Building 2014 Nevada standoff case is complex
LAS VEGAS – When rancher Cliven Bundy faces a federal judge in Oregon on Tuesday, it won’t be because he is accused with his sons of having a hand in the armed occupation of a federal wildlife preserve that ended last week.
Instead, the 69-year-old patriarch will be answering charges stemming from a 2014 armed standoff that forced federal officials to release cattle being rounded up near his Nevada ranch.
Bundy is the first to face charges in what some advocates hailed as a victory in the fight to turn over federal land to state control.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in Las Vegas isn’t saying why it took so long to arrest the elder Bundy. He has said only that the investigation is continuing.
China talks up prospect of North Korea sanctions
BEIJING – The threat of an American missile defense system being stationed in South Korea appears to have concentrated the minds in Beijing on how they could punish Pyongyang.
China now seems ready to support limited United Nations sanctions against North Korea over a recent nuclear test and multiple rocket launches, partly in response to U.S. pressure, experts said Monday.
Beijing has reacted angrily to the prospect of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system being deployed in South Korea, but a tougher line from Washington and Seoul seems to be having some effect on Beijing’s calculations, experts said.
At the very least, Beijing is now talking up the prospect of stiffer sanctions against North Korea.
Oil advances for second day after bullish bets
NEW YORK - Oil advanced a second day, rising briefly above $30 a barrel Monday in New York for the first time in almost a week.
West Texas Intermediate futures rose 1.1 percent in electronic trading in New York after surging 12 percent on Friday. Speculators’ long positions in WTI through Feb. 9 rose to the highest since June, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Iran loaded its first cargo to Europe since international sanctions ended, while Chinese crude imports eased from a record.
Oil in New York is down about 20 percent this year. While the outlook for increased Iranian exports threatens to further boost record oil stockpiles, major companies including Chevron and Anadarko Petroleum are curbing spending on exploration and development of new resources. Crude surged the most in seven years on Feb. 12 after the United Arab Emirates repeated OPEC’s readiness to engage with other producers.
“The oversupply will decrease sharply over the course of the year,” Andy Sommer, an analyst at Axpo Trading in Dietikon, Switzerland, said by e-mail. “Developments in supply and demand mean the market will very closely avoid hitting tank-top levels.”
Associated Press & Washington Post
