latest world business news

The whistle blowing and anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian politician behind the proposal said on Wednesday, a day after the deadline for nominations expired. The Norwegian Nobel Committee accepts nominations for what many consider as the world's top accolade until February 1, although the five panel members have until the end of the month to make their own proposals. Norwegian parliamentarian Snorre Valen said WikiLeaks was "one of the most important contributors to freedom of speech and transparency" in the 21st century. "By disclosing information about corruption, human rights abuses and war crimes, WikiLeaks is a natural contender for the Nobel Peace Prize," Valen said. Members of all national parliaments, professors of law or political science and previous winners are among those allowed to make nominations. The committee declined to comment on the WikiLeaks proposal or any other nominations.

Cables leaked on December 15, 2010 claim that the president of Azerbaijan accused BP of stealing $10bn of oil from his country and using "mild blackmail" to secure the rights to develop vast gas reserves in the Caspian Sea region. The cables reveal that some of BP's partners in the gas field were upset that the company was so secretive about the incident that it even allegedly withheld information from them. They also say that BP was lucky that it was able to evacuate its 212 workers safely after the incident, which resulted in two fields being shut and output being cut by at least 500,000 barrels a day with production disrupted for months. Embassy cables reveal energy firm 'fortunate' to have evacuated workers safely after blast similar to Deepwater Horizon disaster. Striking resemblances between BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster and a little-reported giant gas leak in Azerbaijan experienced by the UK firm 18 months beforehand have emerged from leaked US emb

WikiLeaks has published some crucial issues form secret US diplomatic cables. The latest internationally significant releases from the Wikileaks are categorized here: 1. About Chinese economic expansion in Africa: The United States thinks China is a " pernicious economic competitor with no morals " whose booming investments in Africa are propping up unsavoury regimes , according to a February 23 cable by the US consul-general in Lagos. The US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Johnnie Carson, was quoting as giving the frank assessment in a meeting with oil executives in Nigeria. "China is not in Africa for altruistic reasons," he said. " China is in Africa for China primarily. " 2. To free Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo: US officials pushed China to free dissident Liu Xiaobo, winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, in the weeks after he was first detained. In late 2008, only two weeks after Liu was first held, then ambassador to China Cl