| OPEC reaches deal to cut oil output Posted: 01 Dec 2016 04:49 PM PST The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said it would agree to limit crude oil output to a maximum of 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd) starting Jan. 1 for six months. The cut was at the low end of production of a preliminary agreement struck in Algiers in September, and reduces production from a current 33.64 million bpd. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, has agreed to bear the lion's share of the cuts, but most member countries, including Iraq, which had initially refused to freeze its output, will limit their production. |
| Soccer-Emirati Abdulrahman named Asia Player of the Year Posted: 01 Dec 2016 04:34 PM PST United Arab Emirates playmaker Omar Abdulrahman's disappointment at failing to win the Asian Champions League with Al Ain last weekend was tempered when he was named the continent's best player on Thursday night. Abdulrahman's club were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by South Korea's Jeonbuk Motors with the midfielder nonetheless named the tournament's most valuable player. The 25-year-old went one better on Thursday in Abu Dhabi when he was won Asia's Player of the Year award ahead of Iraq and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya striker Hammadi Ahmed and China and Shanghai SIPG forward Wu Lei. |
| White House announces support for women in military draft Posted: 01 Dec 2016 04:00 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration declared its support Thursday for requiring women to register for the military draft, a symbolic but significant shift that reflects the U.S. military's evolution from a male-dominated force to one seeking to incorporate women at all levels.
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| Terrorism, protests, love life scandal: Hollande's presidency Posted: 01 Dec 2016 03:18 PM PST  Francois Hollande's presidency has been overshadowed by an unprecedented wave of jihadist attacks, violent protests over labour reforms and revelations about his messy private life. Hollande won praise for rallying a shocked nation after the first attacks on the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket. Around 50 heads of state joined him on a march against terror that brought over 3.7 million people onto the streets of France.
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| Did the news media overlook the world's biggest religious gathering? Posted: 01 Dec 2016 03:13 PM PST Pilgrims arrived on foot at the shrines of Imam Hussein and his half-brother Abbas on Nov 20-21, according to the Independent, crossing hundreds of miles in some cases, including territory that borders areas held by the self-proclaimed Islamic State – a Sunni group that routinely targets Shiite civilians, whom they consider heretics. Recommended: Sunni and Shiite Islam: Do you know the difference? |
| Key House chairman: GOP will change Medicare, to 'save' it Posted: 01 Dec 2016 02:53 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of a key House committee pledged Thursday that congressional Republicans will change Medicare in order to save it.
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| UAE midfielder Abdulrahman voted Asian player of the year Posted: 01 Dec 2016 02:46 PM PST  ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Attacking midfielder Omar Abdulrahman won the Asian Football Confederation player of the year award for helping Al Ain reach the final of the continental club championship and steering the United Arab Emirates into the last round of qualifying for the World Cup.
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| Yazidi sex slave uses international stage to put spotlight on trafficking Posted: 01 Dec 2016 02:24 PM PST  By Magdalena Mis and Umberto Bacchi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Yazidi woman imprisoned and raped by Islamic State fighters said she had no idea about the scourge of human trafficking until she found herself enslaved with thousands of other women. Nadia Murad Basee Taha has become the face of Yazidi women captured in northwestern Iraq in the summer of 2014 and used as sex slaves by the Islamic militants. Since escaping her captors in November 2014, she has become an advocate for the Yazidis, and for refugee and women's rights in general, as well as a campaigner against human trafficking.
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| Mattis reported named for Pentagon but Trump team denies Posted: 01 Dec 2016 02:04 PM PST  U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will nominate retired General James Mattis to lead the Pentagon, two media outlets reported on Thursday, but a Trump spokesman said no decision had been made. The Washington Post said Trump had chosen Mattis and that an announcement was likely to be made early next week. CNN also reported that Trump had settled on Mattis.
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| U.S.-led Coalition Confirms 54 Additional Civilian Deaths in Iraq and Syria Airstrikes Posted: 01 Dec 2016 01:55 PM PST  The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS says 54 more civilians were inadvertently killed in airstrikes in Iraq and Syria that took place between March 31 and October 22. Since they began in August of 2014, the coalition has reported 173 civilians killed by coalition airstrikes and another 37 injured. "We regret the unintentional loss of civilian lives resulting from Coalition efforts to defeat ISIL in Iraq and Syria and express our deepest sympathies to the families and others affected by these strikes," said a statement released Thursday by Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR).
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| IS making 'last stand' in Libyan city: Pentagon Posted: 01 Dec 2016 01:53 PM PST  Islamic State group jihadists are making a "last stand" in their former Libyan stronghold of Sirte, where they now control only around two blocks, the Pentagon said Thursday. The IS group had held all of the Mediterranean port city as recently as early this summer, establishing a significant foothold in Libya. The United States started a bombing campaign in August at the request the UN-supported Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) to help local forces recapture the city more than a year after the IS group seized it.
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| Unpopular Hollande doomed by failure of jobs promise Posted: 01 Dec 2016 01:31 PM PST By Brian Love PARIS (Reuters) - Francois Hollande staked his political fate on a promise to bring down unemployment, and it was his failure to turn around the economy that made him France's most unpopular president ever. In a glum address from the Elysee Palace on Thursday, Hollande became the first modern French head of state not to seek re-election, acknowledging he lacked the support to win. |
| Status of main battle fronts in Iraq and Syria Posted: 01 Dec 2016 12:15 PM PST  Elite Syrian troops moved into east Aleppo ahead of a push into the rebel sector's most populated areas, as regime ally Russia called for corridors to bring in aid and evacuate the wounded. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on a visit to Turkey, said Moscow had used every opportunity to help civilians, but accused rebels of threatening "to prevent passage of humanitarian convoys and fire on them". Since Saturday more than 50,000 people have poured out of east Aleppo into territory controlled by government forces or local Kurdish authorities, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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| Mosul offensive takes toll as Iraq casualties soar Posted: 01 Dec 2016 11:54 AM PST  The scope of the toll the six-week old battle for Mosul has taken on Iraqi forces emerged Thursday, with UN figures showing that around 2,000 had been killed in fighting last month alone. While high casualty tolls were expected for what has been Iraq's toughest battle against the Islamic State group to date, few figures had been released. The United Nations' mission in Iraq released monthly casualty figures for November that showed 1,959 members of the Iraqi forces were killed just last month and 450 others wounded.
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| US-led coalition admits 54 civilian deaths in Syria, Iraq strikes Posted: 01 Dec 2016 11:40 AM PST  The US-led coalition bombing the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq said Thursday that 54 civilians had been "inadvertently killed" in seven air strikes between March and October. The announcement brings the official coalition tally of civilians killed to 173 since the anti-IS campaign began in the fall of 2014 -- though critics say the real figure is far higher. "Although the coalition makes extraordinary efforts to strike military targets in a manner that minimizes the risk of civilian casualties, in some cases casualties are unavoidable," the coalition said in a statement.
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| Troops advance in Aleppo, Russia proposes aid corridors Posted: 01 Dec 2016 11:13 AM PST  Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - Elite Syrian troops moved into east Aleppo Thursday ahead of a push into the most densely populated areas, as regime ally Russia called for corridors to bring in aid and evacuate wounded.
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| Coalition says civilians killed in strikes in Syria, Iraq Posted: 01 Dec 2016 11:12 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition is confirming that July airstrikes in northern Syria near Manbij killed 24 civilians who were mixed in with Islamic State militants. The total is far fewer than the more than 50 dead initially reported by Syrian opposition activists. |
| Exclusive: How Putin, Khamenei and Saudi prince got OPEC deal done Posted: 01 Dec 2016 11:06 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin played a crucial role in helping OPEC rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia set aside differences to forge the cartel's first deal with non-OPEC Russia in 15 years. Interventions ahead of Wednesday's OPEC meeting came at key moments from Putin, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, OPEC and non-OPEC sources said.
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| IEA's Birol says entering period of price volatility after OPEC cut Posted: 01 Dec 2016 11:06 AM PST Oil markets are entering a period of greater volatility after OPEC's decision to cut output, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said on Thursday. Birol told an energy conference in the Slovak capital more U.S. oil would be pumped if prices rose to around $60 a barrel. "Unlike in the past OPEC decisions, if prices move to around $60, a substantial amount of oil in United states is ready to come to the markets," Birol said. |
| Ecstasy can reduce fears and stress in PTSD patients. Here's how. Posted: 01 Dec 2016 10:39 AM PST  When ecstasy hits, it unleashes a rush of euphoria and abundant compassion in users. That's precisely why the drug could be an effective treatment for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), early studies show. A large-scale clinical trial is set to move forward next year to test the therapeutic benefits of MDMA—a.k.a. ecstasy, or molly—in survivors of war combat, sexual assault, violent crimes and other traumatic experiences. SEE ALSO: New artificial intelligence technique could erase fear from your brain This week, the Food and Drug Administration said researchers could move ahead with the trial after a series of smaller trials proved successful. The bigger Phase 3 trial could pave the way for the agency to approve ecstasy as a legal drug within a few years. "It changed my life," C.J. Hardin, a U.S. Army veteran who served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the New York Times . "It allowed me to see my trauma without fear or hesitation and finally process things and move forward," he said. Promising results push FDA to green light broad trials for Ecstasy as treatment for PTSD https://t.co/yS1mNo4eHY — David Philipps (@David_Philipps) November 29, 2016 Hardin participated in an earlier clinical trial in South Carolina that combined weeks of psychotherapy with limited doses of MDMA, administered under a psychiatrist's guidance. The Phase 3 trial could follow a similar approach, and include hundreds more patients. Like so many street drugs, ecstasy use comes with (and is also known for) a wide array of health risks, like high fevers, liver failure, cardiac arrest or brain damage. But the drug remains popular among recreational users for its "prosocial" effects—the increased sensations of friendliness, affection and trust. Studies of MDMA's effects on the brain show the drug triggers the release of a hormone called oxytocin, thought to bring about those prosocial feelings. Ecstasy may also tamp down feelings like fear or threat, by weakening activity in the brain's amygdala region. Two 2014 studies found that MDMA reduced subjects' abilities to perceive negative emotional states in other people. Not only that, but the drug also made participants less bothered by social rejection. Like MDMA, PTSD also significantly alters brain activity—but in a completely different way. Traumatic stress can cause increased activity in the fear-stoking amygdala region, studies show. It also interferes with neurochemical systems that moderate stress and affect memory functions. By combining MDMA with therapy, patients can quiet their disabling fears and explore the root of their trauma in a more productive way, said Brad Burge, communications director for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a small nonprofit funding MDMA clinical trials. "When people are processing extremely difficult or fearful emotions, as is the case with PTSD, it can be very helpful in allowing people to clearly describe what they're experiencing," he told Mashable by phone from Santa Cruz, California. Hardin, the U.S. veteran, said ecstasy helped him climb out of a world marked by sleepless nights and dreams of explosions and death. "The MDMA sessions showed me a light I could move toward," he told the Times from his home in Charleston, South Carolina. Posters are shown outside the Army's Suicide Prevention Program in Fort Riley, Kansas, 2009. Image: Chris Hondros/Getty Images Ann and Michael Mithoefer, a wife-and-husband team leading clinical trials in South Carolina, said they found a combination of non-drug therapy sessions and drug-assisted sessions together reduced a range of negative symptoms in their patients. In one trial, the patients reported a 56 percent drop in the severity of symptoms like general anxiety, depression and nightmares. At the end of the study, two-thirds of patients no longer met the criteria for having PTSD, according to the Mithoefers' research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Follow-up exams with patients found the improvements lasted over more than a year after therapy. The trail was one of six Phase 2 studies backed by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Barge said that among the 106 total participants, 66 percent no longer had PTSD by the end of the trial. Australian Federal Police in 2005 display more than one ton of MDMA (ecstasy) pills seized from Melbourne's waterfront. Image: The association as of now is the only U.S. organization driving clinical research in MDMA for therapeutic use in PTSD. The drug first emerged from the labs of German drug manufacturer Merck in the 1910s. In the following decades, researchers—included the U.S. Army in the 1950s—explored the synthetic drug's potential uses in psychotherapy and psychiatry. But when ecstasy became a popular club drug in the 1980s and 90s, governments worldwide cracked down. U.S. regulators in 1985 placed the pill on a list of prohibited substances that included heroin and LSD. The association was created that same year. Barge said the organization needs to raise at least $20 million to support three to four years of Phase 3 trials. A chunk of that money will go toward paying a drug manufacturer to make pharmaceutical-grade MDMA for the research. He said he expects the FDA to formally green-light the Phase 3 trial in early 2017, and potentially approve the drug for prescription use by 2021. "We see a very clear path ahead," Barge said. "More people are realizing that we need better approaches to the treatment of PTSD. That's contributed to more [societal] openness toward this research." Medical experts who spoke with the Times said they were hopeful out the upcoming clinical trials but remained wary of the potential for drug abuse. After all, opioid painkillers like OxyContin are prescription drugs. And the U.S. is now suffering an epidemic of opioid addiction . "It's a feel-good drug, and we know people are prone to abuse it," Dr. Charles R. Marmar, the head of psychiatry at New York University's Langone School of Medicine, told the newspaper . Marmar is a leading PTSD researcher and was not involved in the study. And of course, prolonged use of ecstasy might harm the brain, several studies have shown. A 2011 study found that long-term users risk damaging their brain structure and developing significant memory problems. Another study in 2013 found long-term ecstasy use may alter brain activation in regions that affect verbal memory. Still, Marmar said it "will be of great use" if the clinical studies show positive results. "PTSD can be very hard to treat," he told the Times. " Our best therapies right now don't help 30 to 40 percent of people. So we need more options."
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| Song for 7-month-old daughter moves John Legend to tears Posted: 01 Dec 2016 10:31 AM PST  WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) — John Legend's favorite track off his new album, "Darkness and Light," was written for a very special lady: His 7-month-old daughter, Luna.
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| Air strikes kill 54 civilians in Iraq, Syria: U.S. military Posted: 01 Dec 2016 10:21 AM PST By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition killed 54 civilians between March 31 and Oct. 22 while carrying out air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. military said in a statement on Thursday. At the time the opposition Syrian National Coalition called for a suspension of the air campaign against Islamic State in Syria while reports of the Manbij strike were investigated and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said reports of those civilian casualties would be investigated. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said at least 56 civilians were killed in air strikes north of Manbij. |
| Nobel laureates urge action to protect heritage sites Posted: 01 Dec 2016 09:53 AM PST  Five Nobel prize winners called Thursday for urgent international action to protect world heritage sites from the destruction wrought by extremist groups and conflicts. In an appeal launched on the eve of an international conference in Abu Dhabi, the laureates pointed to the irreparable damage that has been done to some of the world's most treasured ancient sites in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Mali.
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| 1,600 Kurdish peshmerga killed in war on IS: spokesman Posted: 01 Dec 2016 09:28 AM PST  Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - A total of 1,600 Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been killed since the Islamic State group took over large parts of the country in June 2014, peshmerga officials said Thursday.
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| Battle for Iraq's Mosul could take months: ICRC Posted: 01 Dec 2016 09:05 AM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The Iraqi government's assault to retake the city of Mosul could take months, prompting more and more civilians to try to flee to avoid being trapped between frontlines, a senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters. A growing number of wounded, more than 100 on some days, are emerging from rural areas surrounding the city of one million that is held by Islamic State forces, said Dominik Stillhart, director of ICRC operations worldwide. "What we see now on the ground is indeed that the fight in Mosul is not just going to stop anytime soon because the resistance is very strong," Stillhart, back from visiting Iraq, said in an interview on Thursday at ICRC headquarters in Geneva.
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| Iraq hopes OPEC deal will help cover its massive war costs Posted: 01 Dec 2016 09:02 AM PST  The government of Iraq is hoping that a new OPEC deal will help the war-weary country generate enough revenue to help pay for its costly, 2-year-old fight against the Islamic State group. Iraq, whose oil ...
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| Islamic State tells supporters to quit messaging apps for fear of U.S. bombs Posted: 01 Dec 2016 08:59 AM PST  By Ali Abdelaty CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic state has told its members to stop using internet-based communication apps like WhatsApp and Telegram on smartphones, suspecting they are being used by the U.S.-led coalition to track and kill its commanders. Until recently, the hardline group used such apps to chat with members and supporters outside its main areas of control in Syria, Iraq and Libya -- including, say French officials, the assailants who staged attacks across Paris a year ago, killing at least 130 people. A U.S.-led military coalition has been bombing Islamic State positions since 2014, when the group proclaimed a caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
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| Always on High Alert: Addressing Hyperarousal in PTSD Treatment Posted: 01 Dec 2016 08:16 AM PST Marked by being easily startled, irritable and hypervigilant, hyperarousal is a cluster of symptoms that afflicts many people with post-traumatic stress disorder. Along with hallmark symptoms such as flashbacks and frightening thoughts, hyperarousal is a common feature of PTSD, which involves persistent stress following a traumatic event. Challenges treating PTSD in general remain, and hyperarousal specifically can be very difficult to treat, says Dr. Sanjay Mathew, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Baylor College of Medicine and staff physician at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston. |
| For Mosul displaced, the added pain of divided families Posted: 01 Dec 2016 07:54 AM PST  Ihsan Ismail has spoken to his family just twice in a month. In the desperate flight from their village outside Mosul they were separated and are now confined to different camps for the displaced. More than 70,000 people have fled their homes since Iraqi forces launched their offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, from the Islamic State group.
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| Heavy rain piles misery on Mosul displaced Posted: 01 Dec 2016 07:21 AM PST  Abdelwahed Mahmud dug gullies around his tent in northern Iraq Thursday after heavy overnight rain flooded Khazir camp, the latest hardship to hit the thousands of families displaced around Mosul. Around 74,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched a major offensive to retake Mosul, the last major bastion in Iraq of the Islamic State group. "We don't put the heater on, we'd rather use the paraffin they are giving us to cook," said the mother of two, who was displaced twice since IS conquered large parts of Iraq in 2014.
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| Beaten and bruised, detainee recounts Islamic State torture Posted: 01 Dec 2016 06:50 AM PST  By John Davison FADILIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Abdel Razzaq Jalal paused, visibly traumatized, as he told how Islamic State militants tortured him in a Mosul prison to force him to say he was a spy. The ultra-hardline group arrested the 39-year-old in his village near Mosul in northern Iraq earlier this year, accusing him of spying for Kurdish forces. After six nights and seven days of beatings, abuse and death threats, he says the militants let him go, after an Islamic State judge ruled there was not enough evidence to sentence him.
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| Czech PM dismisses terror charges against 2 Czechs in Turkey Posted: 01 Dec 2016 06:50 AM PST PRAGUE (AP) — Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka has rejected terror charges that two Czech nationals face in Turkey. |
| U.S. on watch for Islamic State dispersing in Libya: official Posted: 01 Dec 2016 06:25 AM PST  By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - The United States is "watching very carefully" for Islamic State militants operating outside Sirte as the jihadist group faces defeat in its former North African stronghold, a senior U.S. Department of State official told Reutersew. Libyan forces have been battling Islamic State in Sirte for more than six months and have reduced the amount of ground held by its fighters to a small cluster of buildings near the city's Mediterranean sea front. "They have made a great deal of progress, but the fight has been quite severe and the Libyan forces have taken a lot of casualties," said Marie Richards, the Department of State's deputy counterterrorism coordinator for regional and multilateral affairs.
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| Iraq's Shi'ite militias could prove bigger test than Mosul Posted: 01 Dec 2016 06:17 AM PST  By Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - In early June, two Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias under the nominal control of the Iraqi government stormed into an Iraqi military airbase north of Baghdad. The Iraqi commander at the base, near the town of Balad, asked the militiamen to leave. The June standoff grounded four Iraqi F-16 fighter jets and pushed more than a dozen U.S. contractors – there to help local pilots bomb Islamic State militants – to flee, according to the army officers and an Iraqi military intelligence source.
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| Kurdish traders gearing up to take over Mosul trade from Syrians Posted: 01 Dec 2016 05:50 AM PST  By Ulf Laessing KALAK, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish food retailer Nuri Barzan was considering closing his warehouse because of the lack of business when the launch of a military campaign to oust Islamic State from their stronghold of Mosul eased his worries. "Sales have gone up by 50 percent since the operation started as traders stock up for Mosul," Barzan said, sitting in his warehouse in Kalak, a town just east of Mosul. Unemployment has been on the rise in Kurdistan, an autonomous region in northern Iraq, for two years as oil prices have slumped and the Baghdad government has cut off funding after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) started building a crude pipeline to Turkey.
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| Two charged with terrorism over Belgian machete attack Posted: 01 Dec 2016 03:59 AM PST  Belgian authorities charged a woman and a man on Thursday with terrorism offences over an August machete attack on two policewomen that was claimed by the Islamic State group. The prosecutor's office said 36-year-old Sabrina Z. and 37-year-old Farid L., who were detained in a series of raids on Wednesday, were charged by a Belgian judge who is investigating the attack in the southern city of Charleroi. Police seized several bladed weapons, some of them similar to the one used in the attack, when they raided eight homes in the Charleroi area south of the capital Brussels.
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| Philippines raises terror alert after foiled Manila bomb plot Posted: 01 Dec 2016 03:43 AM PST The Philippines has raised its terror alert to its highest level after police said they had discovered a plot by Islamic State-linked militants to attack a park, following a foiled bombing near the U.S. embassy this week. Ronald dela Rosa, the national police chief, said the plot was revealed by two men arrested over the planting of a bomb near the embassy in Manila on Monday. "These men planned to detonate a bomb in a public park, but it failed, then they planted another improvised explosive device near the U.S. embassy," dela Rosa told a news conference, standing beside two men in yellow prisons shirts. |
| In Morocco's Fez, world's oldest library holds gems Posted: 01 Dec 2016 02:44 AM PST  Nestled in a labyrinth of streets in the heart of Morocco's ancient city of Fez, stands the world's oldest working library. As early writings from the Arabic-speaking world have come under increasing threat from extremists, the Qarawiyyin library is home to priceless treatises in Islamic studies, astronomy and medicine. "All that's left to be done are a few finishing touches and the electricity," says Boubker Jouane, the library's deputy director.
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| Britain disappointed at UN panel decision on Assange Posted: 01 Dec 2016 01:54 AM PST  The British government voiced disappointment on Thursday after a UN panel rejected its request to review a ruling that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being arbitrarily detained. "Julian Assange is not, and has never been, arbitrarily detained in the UK," junior foreign minister Alan Duncan said in a statement. "We completely reject the opinion of the UN Working Group and are very disappointed that they will not review their deeply flawed and incorrect position," he said, adding that Assange's presence at the Ecuadoran embassy was "entirely self-inflicted".
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| Oil resumes rise after OPEC cut Posted: 30 Nov 2016 11:31 PM PST  Oil prices resumed their rise Thursday and held above the $50 barrier following OPEC's decision to carry out its first output cut in eight years. Many analysts had expected the producers' cartel to fail to reach a deal as major players like Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia remained divided ahead of the meeting. Crude futures prices surged more than 10 percent immediately after the OPEC deal.
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