| Oil prices rise on cold weather reports
NEW YORK — Oil prices climbed Monday as forecasts for blustery weather nationwide raised expectations that demand for energy will surge in the coming days. Rising political tensions in the Middle East contributed to the advance, apparently outweighing worries that a weakending U.S. economy could curb oil demand. After opening lower, light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $1.14 to $93.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude gained $1.66 to $92.73 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. "The main thrust to the upside is pretty clearly weather driven," said Citigroup Global Markets energy analyst Tim Evans. "That has the natural gas market extending last week's gains and making heating oil the leader on the upside of the petroleum complex." Heating oil futures added more than 5 cents to $2.5866 a gallon, while natural gas futures gained 12.5 cents to $8.335 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Asian travel agents are ‘shaken, not stirred’ as travel 2.0 comes ...
Throwing a fortune at the online market is no guarantee of success," says Don Birch. "Some companies are after a niche, online customer and need to aggressively invest in Travel 2.0. But for most agents in Asia the reality of their business will be in both the real and virtual worlds." Abacus has staked its claim in the new Travel 2.0 landscape. Abacus WebConnect enables individual travel agencies to connect their website to Abacus’ database of travel fares and information. This is a lowbarrier way for an agency to establish an accurate and authoritative presence on the Internet. Mobile technology is utilised with Abacus VirtuallyThere, a personalised journey tracking system that allows an agent to update a client, even when he or she is on-the-go. Covering the bases Agents who currently have a competitive business with no internet presence may feel they are able to maintain this position for some time.
State schools going ‘green’
If the school saves more than the company's fee, WVU gets to pocket the difference.The first phase of the project is complete on WVU's Evansdale campus. The entire campus will be covered in about five years.Fisher hopes a universal policy will be completed this spring that addresses sustainability efforts campus-wide. The movement has created demand for a new job at WVU: sustainability coordinator.The position is currently vacant, but Fisher says he's looking for someone to oversee the school's various green projects. The coordinator would create a framework for the campus' environmental impact, with a hand in academic areas, student affairs, facilities, transportation and parking.And there are ways that WVU has been ahead of the game. The university's PRT system transports more than 2 million students a year between the university's two campuses."We don't even have a bus fleet," Fisher said.
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