Iran nuclear crisis: EU moves towards crude oil ban

The Iranian leadership insists the country's nuclear programme is entirely peaceful

EU member states have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian crude oil to put pressure on the country over its nuclear programme.

The move is expected to be announced formally at an EU foreign ministers' meeting at the end of January.

The US, which recently imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, welcomed the news.

Iran has dismissed the threat of new sanctions and denies Western claims that it is trying to develop a nuclear weapons programme.

Iran has also denied that a record low of its currency this week was linked to punitive US measures against its banks.

Oil prices on international markets rose on news of the EU agreement.

"We have an [EU] foreign ministers' meeting on January 30, and on this occasion I hope we will be able to take the decision on the embargo of oil and petrol from Iran", said French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe.

"We have to reassure some of our European partners who purchase Iranian oil. We have to provide them with alternative solutions", he added.

On Tuesday France had called for "stricter sanctions" on Iran.

However, even if sanctions are adopted at the end of the month, it may be several months before they are implemented.

'Tightening the noose'

"These are the kinds of steps that we would like to see not just from our close allies and partners in places like Europe but from countries around the world", said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

"We do believe that this is consistent with tightening the noose on Iran economically," she added.

International sanctions against Iran

US

• Longstanding ban on all trade with Iran except for activities "intended to benefit the Iranian people"
• New sanctions against foreign firms dealing with Iran's oil sector and central bank

EU

• Restrictions on trade in equipment which could be used for uranium enrichment
• Asset freeze on individuals and organisations linked with nuclear programme
• Export ban on natural gas technology

UN

• Ban on sales of heavy weaponry and nuclear technology to Iran
• Iranian arms exports blocked, and asset freeze for key individuals and firms
• Cargo inspections to detect and stop Iran's acquisition of illicit materials

The Iranian state gets more than half of its revenue through the export of crude oil, says the BBC's James Reynolds.

If Europe does stop buying, Iran will have to turn to countries in Asia to replace its lost trade, who will demand a discount, he adds.

The EU currently accounts for around 17% of Iranian oil exports.

The US has longstanding bilateral sanctions in place which prohibit almost all trade with Iran.

In November, the US, Canada and the UK announced new sanctions against Iran in the wake of a report from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that said Iran had carried out tests related to the "development of a nuclear device".

Last week President Obama signed into law a bill cutting off from the US financial system foreign firms that do business with Iran's central bank.

But Iran was not referred to the UN Security Council because Russia and China were opposed to the move.

The Security Council has already passed four rounds of sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment. Highly enriched uranium can be processed into nuclear weapons.

These sanctions include a ban on the supply of heavy weaponry and nuclear-related technology to Iran, a block on Iranian arms exports, and an asset freeze on key individuals and companies.

Iran has been holding a series of naval exercises in the Gulf in recent days, test-firing several missiles.

The exercises were held near the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of the world's traded oil passes.

Tehran said on Monday that "mock" exercises on shutting the strait had been carried out, although there was no intention of closing it.

5 top cyber threats for 2012 (Hackers moving to target mobile devices, security firm says)

As cybercriminals improve their toolkits and malware, they’re moving away from hacking personal computers to mobile devices, as well as plotting other more sophisticated attacks, according to a report on the top cyber threats for 2012.

“Many of the threats that will become prominent in 2012 have already been looming under the radar in 2011,” Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs, a technology company and subsidiary of Intel Corp., said in a release
The five top cyber threats as seen by McAfee are:

• Attacking mobile devices: Techniques used in the past for online banking, such as stealing from victims while they are still logged on, will now target mobile banking users.
• Embedded hardware: Embedded systems, which are designed for a specific control function within a larger system, are commonly used in vehicles, GPS systems, medical devices, routers, digital cameras and printers. Hackers with access to malware that attacks the hardware layer of such systems will gain control and long-term access to the system and its data.
• Industrial attacks: Many of the environments where SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems are deployed — such as water, electricity, oil and gas utilities — don’t have sufficiently stringent security practices, leaving them vulnerable to blackmail or extortion.
• "Legalized" spam: While global spam volumes have dropped in recent years, legitimate advertisers are now using the same techniques, such as purchasing email lists of users who have consented to receive advertising, or purchasing consumer databases from companies going out of business. “Legal” spam is expected to grow at a faster rate than illegal phishing and confidence scams on the internet.
• Online/frontline hacktivisim: McAffee predicts the true Anonymous group will reinvent itself or die out, and those leading digital disruptions will join forces with physical protesters to target public figures such as politicians and business leaders.

Families with children hit by tax and benefit changes

Families with three or more children will be affected most, the FPI says

Families with children will be hardest hit by tax and benefit changes aimed at cutting the deficit, a charity argues.

The Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) says the average income of households with children will drop by 4.2% between 2010-11 and 2015-16, the equivalent of £1,250 a year.

Average household income however will fall 0.9%, or £215 a year, say the FPI.

The government says it is already taking "practical steps" to help such as cutting fuel duty and income tax.

The figures, calculated for the FPI by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), suggests much of the fall in income during these years will be due to tax and benefit changes, as well as other reasons such as falling incomes.

"This research confirms that families with children are shouldering a disproportionate burden," said Katherine Rake of the FPI.

"This disparity is largely driven by a package of benefit reforms which have affected families with children.

"As a result of the changes being introduced between January 2011 and April 2014 families are set to lose more than pensioner households and working-age households without children," she added.

In reply the government pointed to policies that it says are already relieving the burden for families.

"The Prime Minister acknowledged that families are facing difficult times so the Government has taken practical steps to help them - cutting fuel duty, freezing council tax and cutting income tax for millions," said the government in a statement.

"The Chancellor also confirmed working-age benefits will go up by 5.2% in April and increased the child element of the Child Tax Credit in line with inflation."

The government response drew special attention to its planned Universal Credit scheme.

"When introduced Universal Credit will see nearly 3 million households with a higher level of entitlement than present and we believe, due to its simplicity, more families will be able to take up entitlements that are currently unclaimed. It will also help 80,000 more families with childcare support, which will enable more parents to take up work."

Universal credit

The IFS and FPI acknowledge that the introduction of the government's new flagship benefit called the Universal Credit, which is being phased in from October 2013, will protect the incomes of many poor families.

But even so, the overall effect of all the current and impending tax and benefit changes will be negative for many families, with the biggest drop already underway in the current financial year 2011-12.

The Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, Yvette Coooper, says the research is a "damning verdict" on the coalition's family policies and she accused the government of being "out of touch" with the pressures on families.

"It leaves David Cameron's promise to be a family-friendly government in tatters," she said.

"The government is taking more from children than from the banks. Women and children are paying the highest price.

She added: "It isn't even working - with £158bn more borrowing than planned, as a result of their failed economic policies."

Among the many changes already implemented by the coalition government are VAT at 20%, reductions in tax credits, cuts in housing benefit, a freeze on child benefits, and the use of the consumer prices index (CPI) to uprate benefits each year.

Other forthcoming changes include more changes to the child tax credit and child benefit systems, reductions in council tax benefit, and "medical reassessment" of claimants of disability living allowance.

The FPI argues that the forthcoming fall in family incomes will be harshest for those families with three or more children, those with young children aged under five, and those renting private accommodation.

As a result, the charity argues, by 2015-15 a further half a million children will be living in absolute poverty.

The IFS said it calculations, which updated previous research, took into account recent economic forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and announcements in November's Autumn Statement.

Google search home page revamp promotes other services

Google's pull-down menus should help highlight the firm's non-core search services to users


Google is rolling out one of its biggest home page changes to date.

The revamp strips its front page of the black bar that currently runs horizontally along its top, and replaces it with a grey logo.

When clicked or highlighted, it reveals seven alternative services to the site's search page with an option to reveal a further eight.

Analysts said the move was designed to promote more of the firm's businesses without cluttering its webpage.

The new look, which was first announced last year, is only being offered to a limited number of users at the moment.

A spokesman for Google said that the roll-out is designed to improve the user experience.

"Constant revision and improvement is part of our overarching philosophy," he said.

"If you compare the original Google home page to today's version, you will see that a makeover every so often can certainly be refreshing."

Matching Chrome

Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group, said the move allowed the site to use icons without resembling Yahoo's busier design.

"They are trying to deal with how to service all the different Google properties without making the page cluttered, because Google is always very keen to hang onto the plain minimalist front page that they have always had," he said.

"The other thing that they are doing with those menus is making the page look like their Chrome netbook operating system.

"So whether you are using a Chromebook or the Google website the interface is the same."

Google's front page still resembles its original 1998 design

Advertising

Another consequence of the move is that it now takes users two movements to enter services such as Images or News, rather than the one click that was previously needed.

However, this may play to the site's financial advantage.

"For years we've all been extolling the virtues of minimising the number of clicks and it would appear to be a retrograde step," said Mr Green.

"But for the sake of clarity it's better having the extra click. What it also means is that, for most people, their first route into the Google universe will be back through the search bar again, which helps the firm expose more people to advertising.

"Through search they can put adverts in front of you, while in the news section there isn't advertising."

Self promotion

Google is facing scrutiny for the way its own services appear in its search results.

Last month, two senators called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Google was exploiting the fact it had a majority of both search via PC and mobile devices.

"A key question is whether Google is using its market power to steer users to its own web products or secondary services and discriminating against other websites with which it competes," Senators Herb Kohl and Mike Lee wrote.

The Financial Times has also reported that the European Commission was examining claims that Google "downgrades some rival websites in its search results, while playing up its own services".

Google has denied deliberately disadvantaging rivals.