Shell - higher profits but less investment as lower oil prices bite.

Royal Dutch Shell is reviving plans to drill for oil in Arctic in a move likely to intensify its battle with environmentalists. The Anglo-Dutch giant's chief executive Ben van Beurden accepted that Arctic drilling "divides society", but said the world needs new sources of oil. Greenpeace said Shell was taking a "massive risk" in a "pristine" region. Shell also announced a $ 15bn (£9.9bn) cut in global spending, and profit figures that disappointed investors. The cut in investment - spread over three years - comes after a fall in the oil price. Although the price is expected to remain lower in the medium term, Mr van Beurden said: "We are taking a prudent approach here and we must be careful not to over-react to the recent fall in oil prices. "Shell is taking structured decisions to balance growth and returns." Shell also said profits for the last three months of 2014 had risen to $4.2bn compared with $2.2bn in the same period a year earlier. The numbers were below analysts' forecasts, prompting a big sell-off of Shell's shares, down almost 5% in early afternoon trading. 'Responsibly' Shell put its Arctic plans on hold two years ago after a drilling vessel ran aground and legal wrangles in the US. The company has already spent $1bn on preparing its drilling work in Alaska's Chukchi Sea. It was costing Shell several hundred millions of dollars a year to keep the existing operations ticking over, the company said. Mr van Beurden said there were still issues to resolve before drilling began, such as over operating permits and getting further facilities in place. But he hoped to see work begin in the summer. "We will only do this if we feel that we can do it responsibly," Mr van Beurden told the BBC. "I think that we are as well prepared as any company can be to mitigate the risks." He also pointed out that there are already other energy companies operating in the Arctic. Mr van Beurden said that the world needs new sources of oil and gas to meet demand and that the Arctic offered potentially the biggest resource base ever found. Estimates have put the estimates at some 24bn barrels in Alaska. Environmentalists have campaigned against Shell for years. Greenpeace's Charlie Kronick, said: "Despite announcing cuts [in global investment], Shell hasn't taken the opportunity to cut its most high-cost high-risk project. "Shell is taking a massive risk doggedly chasing oil in the Arctic, not just with shareholder value, but with the pristine Arctic environment. "A spill there will be environmentally and financially catastrophic. It's time for investors to recognise that it's impossible for Shell to justify its continued pursuit of offshore Arctic oil." Shell oil tank Analysis: Kamal Ahmed, BBC business editor As the first of the major oil companies to report its figures for last year, Shell plays the role of the canary in the coal mine - or on the oil rig. After a rather sickly 2013, profits are actually up. But the impact of the low oil price is clearly biting. The company announced that it would be cutting investment over the next three years in new exploration and the development of oil and gas fields, a move that will raise fresh concerns about its business in the North Sea. Last summer Shell announced the loss of 250 jobs in Aberdeen. The chief executive, Ben Van Beurden, said that the company would not "over-react" to the oil price which has fallen by 60% since last June. And of course a low oil price means lower prices at the petrol pumps for consumers. He said though that Shell would look at further cuts if necessary. As well as the North Sea, the company's operations in Nigeria, where it recently paid a £55m bill to clean up pollution after a major oil spill, and the Arctic will also come under increased scrutiny. Buybacks slow Meanwhile, Shell's profits for the quarter after stripping out one-off items, such as asset sales and accounting changes, were $3.26bn. That is a 12% rise on the same period a year earlier but down from the $5.85bn in the June to September quarter. Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said: "As expected, fourth quarter performance has been impacted by the lower oil price, although downstream refining operations have provided some counterbalance. "More broadly, the numbers are below forecast, with the news providing a difficult start to the oil majors' results season. "In all, and despite the disappointing numbers, the dividend payment remains core, with the payment being left unchanged." Shell said it was spending $12bn on dividends to shareholders in 2014, and also repurchased $3.3bn of its own shares. The group said it had slowed the pace of share buybacks to conserve cash and that near-term oil prices would dictate how it progressed. Oil prices have fallen by almost 60% since June because of weak global demand and a boom in US shale production. Shell's main rivals, BP and Total. have also announced large cutbacks in capital expenditure in recent weeks.
Source:BBC.COM

ASTRONOMY IN THE QUR'AN

THE QUR'AN AND MODERN SCIENCE Extracted from the Book The Bible, The Qur'an and Science Maurice Bucaille ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ASTRONOMY IN THE QUR'AN

The Qur'an is full of reflections on the heavens. In the preceding chapter on the Creation, we saw how the plurality of the heavens and earths was referred to, as well as what the Qur'an calls an intermediary creation 'between the heavens and the earth': modern science has verified the latter. The verses referring to the Creation already contain a broad idea of what is to be found in the heavens, i.e. of everything outside the earth. Apart from the verses that specifically describe the Creation, there are roughly another forty verses in the Qur'an which provide information on astronomy complementing what has already been given. Some of them are not much more than reflections on the glory of the Creator, the Organizer of all the stellar and planetary systems. These we know to be arranged according to balancing positions whose stability Newton explained in his law of the mutual attraction of bodies. The first verses to be quoted here hardly furnish much material for scientific analysis: the aim is simply to draw attention to God's Omnipotence. They must be mentioned however to give a realistic idea of the way the Qur'anic text described the organization of the Universe fourteen centuries ago. These references constitute a new fact of divine Revelation. The organization of the world is treated in neither the Gospels nor the Old Testament (except for a few notions whose general inaccuracy we have already seen in the Biblical description of the Creation). The Qur'an however deals with this subject in depth. What it describes is important, but so is what it does not contain. It does not in fact provide an account of the theories prevalent at the time of the Revelation that deal with the organization of the celestial world theories that science was later to show were inaccurate. An example of this will be given later. This negative consideration must however be pointed out. A. General Reflections Concerning the Sky - Surah 50, verse 6. Do they not look at the sky above them, how We have built it and adorned it, and there are no rifts in it - Surah 31, verse 10: (God) created the heavens without any pillars that you can see... - Surah 13, verse 2: God is the One Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you can see, then He firmly established Himself on the throne and He subjected the sun and moon... These last two verses refute the belief that the vault of the heavens was held up by pillars, the only things preventing the former from crushing the earth. - Surah 55, verse 7: . the sky (God) raised it.... - Surah 22, verse 65: . (God) holds back the sky from falling on the earth unless by His leave.... It is known how the remoteness of celestial masses at great distance and in proportion to the magnitude of their mass itself constitutes the foundation of their equilibrium. The more remote the masses are the weaker the force is that attracts one to the other. The nearer they are, the stronger the attraction is that one has to the other: this is true for the Moon, which is near to the Earth (astronomically speaking) and exercises an influence by laws of attraction on the position occupied by the waters of the sea, hence the phenomenon of the tides. If two celestial bodies come too close to one another, collision is inevitable. The fact that they are subjected to an order is the sine qua non for the absence of disturbances. The subjection of the heavens to divine order is often referred to as well: - Surah 23, verse 86: God is speaking to the Prophet. . Say: Who is lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the tremendous throne?. We have already seen how by 'seven heavens' what is meant is not 7, but an indefinite number of heavens. - Surah 45, verse 31: . For you (God) subjected all that is in the heavens and on the earth, all from Him. Behold! In that are signs for people who reflect. - Surah 55, verse 5: . the sun and moon (are subjected) to calculations. - Surah 6, verse 96: . (God) appointed the night for rest and the sun and the moon for reckoning. - Surah 14, verse 33: . For you (God) subjected the sun and the moon, both diligently pursuing their courses. And for you He subjected the night and the day. Here one verse completes another: the calculations referred to result in the regularity of the course described by the heavenly bodies in question, this is expressed by the word da'ib, the present participle of a verb whose original meaning was 'to work eagerly and assiduously at something'. Here it is given the meaning of 'to apply oneself to something with care in a perseverant, invariable manner, in accordance with set habits'. Surah 36, verse 39: God is speaking: . And for the moon We have appointed mansions till she returns like an old shriveled palm branch. This is a reference to the curled form of the-palm branch which, as it shrivels up, takes on the moon's crescent. This commentary will be completed later. - Surah 16, verse 12: . For you (God) subjected the night and the day, the sun and the moon; the stars are in subjection to His Command. Verily in this are signs for people who are wise. The practical angle from which this perfect celestial order is seen is underlined on account of its value as an aid to man's travel on earth and by sea, and to his calculation of time. This comment becomes clear when one bears in mind the fact that the Qur'an was originally a preaching addressed to men who only understood the simple language of their every day lives. This explains the presence of the following reflections: - Surah 6, verse 97: . (God) is the One Who has set out for you the stars, that you may guide yourselves by them through the darkness of the land and of the sea. We have detailed the signs for people who know. - Surah 16, verse 16: . (God sets on the earth) landmarks and by the stars (men) guide themselves - Surah 10, verse 5: . God is the One Who made the sun a shine and the moon a light and for her ordained mansions, so that you might know the number of years and the reckoning (of the time). God created this in truth. He explains the signs in detail for people who know. This calls for some comment. Whereas the Bible calls the Sun and Moon 'lights', and merely adds to one the adjective 'greater' and to the other 'lesser', the Qur'an ascribes differences other than that of dimension to each respectively. Agreed, this is nothing more than a verbal distinction, but how was one to communicate to men at this time without confusing them, while at the same time expressing the notion that the Sun and Moon were not absolutely identical 'lights'?

Israel Jewish Terrorist Organizations

Several small Jewish groups had been linked with terrorist attacks against Arabs in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. None of these presented a significant security problem to the IDF as of 1988. The best known of these organizations, the Gush Emunim Underground (sometimes called the Jewish Terror Organization), was formed in 1979 by prominent members of Gush Emunim, a group of religious zealots who had used squatter tactics to carry on a campaign to settle the West Bank after the October 1973 War. The underground perceived the 1978 Camp David Accords and the 1979 Treaty of Peace Between Egypt and Israel as betraying the Begin government's policy of retaining the territories conquered by Israel. The principal terrorist actions of the Gush Emunim Underground were carried out between 1980 and 1984. In 1980 car bombings of five West Bank Arab mayors resulted in crippling two of the mayors. In 1983, the Hebron Islamic College was the target of a machinegun and grenade attack that killed three Arab students and wounded thirty-three others. In 1984 an attempt was made to place explosive charges on five Arab buses in East Jerusalem. This plot was foiled by agents of Israel's internal security force, Shin Bet, leading to arrest and prison sentences for eighteen members of the underground. The security services also uncovered a well-developed plan to blow up the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam's most sacred shrines, on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Another anti-Arab terrorist group, Terror Against Terror (known as TNT) was established by Kach, the right-wing extremist political movement of Rabbi Meir Kahane. TNT was responsible for numerous beatings and bombings and several murders of Arabs, beginning in 1975. Defending Shield (Egrof Magen), a Jewish vigilante group of West Bank settlers formed in 1983, was responsible for a number of attacks and vandalization of Arab property on the West Bank. During the intifadah, beginning in late 1987, there were many reports of Jewish vigilantism, including shootings, punitive raids on refugee camps, and assaults on Arab motorists in retaliation for rock- throwing attacks by Arab youths. Most of these appeared to be spontaneous actions by settlers of individual communities.

How to be a successful blogger | Blogging tips for beginners

Blogging is a great way of making money online at home. It gives a great satisfaction to the online writer when he makes money blogging. But……………. Did you know that only a measly small number of the bloggers become highly successful financially in this section. who are able to take themselves from being another blogger to a successful professional blogger. If, you’re a new blogger and want to learn more about how your blog can be a success, then here are some important things that you can learn from it. There are plenty of tricks and tips to get your own creative website rocking and helping you to win more business.

Here’s my top tricks and tips for creative blogger:

• » First learn more about blogging, If you’re not fully leveraging the power of blogging.
  » Create a proper business plan for your blog.
  » Choosing a profitable niche market and focus on marketing.
  » Choosing the right domain name and hosting
  » Connect with your readers and bloggers .
  » Start real relationships with bloggers.
  » Write guest posts for other blogs
  » Updates your blog and share good information.
  » A successful blogger love blogging, writing and they hold a strong passion in the topic they are posting.
  » Create quality articles
  » Don’t get seen naked.
  » Create RSS feed and make sure a link to your feed is available on your website
  » Add social bookmarking tools on your website because hungry readers are using social bookmarking sites everyday.
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  » Occasionally you may get the odd negative comment on your blog. Don’t let it put you off or scare you away from blogging.
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Short Note:

If you want to be a successful blogger, you should read and learn a lot. You have to gain as much knowledge as possible because there is no end to learn and improve yourself as a professional blogger. If you want to know how to create and grow a successful blog, make sure to take notes (and take action)! If you can think of any more, Please share your blogging tips and success story in the comments section below.

WHY I EMBRACED ISLAM ?:PDF Download

I embraced Islam in 1961, I used to sit enthralled by the hour at the mosque in. Why I Embraced Islam? An Account of an American Jewish Lady Who Accepted Islam - Maryam Jameelah
Q: Would you kindly tell us how your interest in Islam began?
Read Answer to Download this pdf

Don’t Blame Islam for Boko Haram

When the news broke that over 200 girls had been abducted by Boko Haram, I was prepared for some Islamophobic rhetoric from the Spencer/Gellar ilk. What I was not expecting were Pulitzer prize winners like Leonard Pitts, even for once, falling for the sensational “extremist Islam is scared of little girls” narrative. It’s not Islam but savage bearded men who are scared of little girls. Inserting “Islam” into the equation is a distraction; it augments the agenda of Boko Haram, who are craving religious legitimacy. Deny them that. I am a father of two girls. What anguish the parents of over 200 abducted girls must be experiencing is beyond me. I cannot comprehend why the world is not acting swiftly to unite 276 innocent girls with their families, or why a “coalition of the willing” is not removing the localized tumor of Boko Haram before it metastasizes into a pan- African cancer. What I do comprehend, however, is the common thread of ignorance and hatred between Boko Haram and Islamophobes. Both know zilch about the true Islamic teachings; their ignorance is directly proportional to the number of words they utter. Both hold blanket hatred for the other: Boko Haram hates all Western ideas (hence their name, which translates roughly to “Western education is a sin”), and Islamophobes like Pat Robertson compare Islam to Nazism. And both resort to a “buy one, get one” sales strategy: Buy into this narrative of ignorance or hatred and you get to use or bash Islam — depending upon your location — for free. Don’t give me the “Boko Haram associate themselves with Islam, so what’s wrong with us doing the same?” argument. Can’t we see the wrong in legitimizing the words of a few hundred thugs over the beliefs of a billion-plus Muslims? Why didn’t we malign the faith of over a billion Christians because of Joseph Kony calling himself a “devout Christian”? Remember that Kony, the leader of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army, also abducted thousands of children in Africa? That nothing in Islam, today or 1,400 years ago, justifies the abduction of any human being, let alone innocent girls, is a fact I have explained ad nauseam. Man, at times, I feel exhausted. Exhausted of educating the masses about the medieval Arabian practice of burying girls alive and how Islam, not Boko Haram, abolished and memorialized it with these Quranic words: “And when the girl-child buried alive is questioned about, for what crime was she killed?” (81:9-10). Exhausted of repeating what Prophet Muhammad taught his companions: “If a daughter is born to a person and he brings her up, gives her a good education and trains her in the arts of life, I shall myself stand between him and hell-fire.” Exhausted of disclosing what Fatima-al-Fihri, a Muslim woman, accomplished in 859 A.D. by establishing the University of Karueein in Fez, Morocco. (Hint: It’s listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.) But I am proud of my Muslim daughter, who is taking four AP exams as a sophomore in high school and aiming for the pinnacle of the so-called “sinful” Western education. Translate this, “Boko Haram”! Some ask, “How do you tell the story without mentioning Islam?” “By learning from other Pulitzer prize-winning journalists,” I respond. Last week The New York Times‘ Nicholas Kristoff wrote, “The attack in Nigeria is part of a global backlash against girls’ education by extremists. The Pakistani Taliban shot Malala Yousafzai in the head at age 15 because she advocated for girls’ education. Extremists threw acid in the faces of girls walking to school in Afghanistan. And in Nigeria, militants destroyed 50 schools last year alone.” He refused to take the Islam or Islamist bait four times in one paragraph, yet he told the story. Bravo. When my daughter returned from school today, she described how one of her Jewish classmates lamented the obvious practice of specifying the “Muslimness” of an extremist act in the headlines. See how apparent it has become? So end this sensationalism, please. Let’s bring the filthy thugs of Boko Haram to justice, yesterday. And let’s stop elevating their status by linking them to Islam in our headlines from tomorrow.

We Invite You To ISLAM

To:Dear Chiristian Brothers

Assalamu ‘alaikum. Hi and welcome, This website is dedicated especially to our not-yet- Muslim friends, so that they can learn from their friends’ experience of converting to ISLAM. The compilation of articles and videos in this website is based on their true stories published in various sources of books, magazines, websites etc. I hope this tiny effort can be an opening door for those who are interested in knowing about ISLAM, to unfold further and seek the truth of ISLAM.

I invite you to embrace ISLAM and may ALLAH guide us to the truth, ameen.

“…Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path.” (Al- Qur’an 2:256)