This diary is updated daily. New listings or amendments are marked *. All events/times provisional and in GMT (local time is GMT +3 for Egypt, GMT +3 for Sudan).
TODAY'S EVENTS
*SHARM EL-SHEIKH - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak holds talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.
CAIRO - Court session in lawsuit filed by man against Egyptian academic Saad Eddin Ibrahim for $100 million in damages for "harm to Egyptian national unity".
COMING EVENTS
SUNDAY, MAY 18
SHARM EL-SHEIKH - World Economic Forum meeting starts, through May 20.
CAIRO - Arab League to hold meeting with representatives of satellite broadcasting channels to discuss mechanisms for regulating content, as per the Arab broadcast charter.
MONDAY, MAY 19
CAIRO - A coalition of 24 major Egyptian NGOs hold a press conference to announce the creation of an umbrella organisation to promote and advocate legal measures for the protection and freedom of NGOs, 1000 GMT.
*SHARM EL-SHEIKH - Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan gives a press briefing, from 1130 local/ 0830 GMT.
TUESDAY, MAY 20
CAIRO - Samih Sawiris holds a presentation on the listing of Orascom Development Holding on the Egyptian and Swiss stock exchanges, followed by a Q & A session 1300 GMT
MONDAY, MAY 26
CAIRO - Euromoney conference on Egyptian real estate.
THURSDAY, MAY 29
CAIRO - Egypt to choose international consultants for its planned nuclear power station.
TUESDAY, JUNE 3
*CAIRO - An Islamic Finance forum at the Conrad Hotel from 0845 local.
THURSDAY, JUNE 19
CAIRO - Telecommunications Regulatory Authority deadline for bids for Egypt's second fixed-line telephone licence.
TUESDAY, JUNE 24
SHARM EL-SHEIKH - Two-day meeting of African Union experts to prepare for AU summit.
THURSDAY, JUNE 26
CAIRO - Central bank's monetary policy committee meets.
FRIDAY, JUNE 27
CAIRO - Central bank issues statement on monetary policy.
SHARM EL-SHEIKH - Two-day meeting of African Union Executive Council to prepare for AU summit.
MONDAY, JUNE 30
SHARM EL-SHEIKH - Two-day African Union summit.
THURSDAY, JULY 17
ALEXANDRIA - Wikimania 2008 conference at Alexandria Library, organised by the Wikimedia Foundation, through Saturday.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 7
CAIRO - Central bank's monetary policy committee meets.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8
CAIRO - Central bank issues statement on monetary policy.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
CAIRO - Central bank's monetary policy committee meets.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
CAIRO - Central bank issues statement on monetary policy.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6
CAIRO - Central bank's monetary policy committee meets.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7
CAIRO - Central bank issues statement on monetary policy.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25
CAIRO - Central bank's monetary policy committee meets.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26
CAIRO - Central bank issues statement on monetary policy.
NOTE-Inclusion of diary items does not necessarily mean that Reuters will file a story on the event.
Key world financial events diary [KEY/DIARY]
International political diary [POL/DIARY]
Full index of available diaries [IND/DIARY] ((Cairo newsroom +202 2 578 3290/1, fax +202 577 1133, cairo.newsroom@reuters.com))
Keywords: EGYPT DIARY
NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. copper futures closed up more than 2 percent Friday, hitting nine-day highs, after sharp gains in metals and almost all commodities on the back of a weaker dollar.
NOTE: For detailed report, click on [MET/L].
* July copper delivery <HGN8> settles up 8.8 cents at $3.8265 a lb on the COMEX metals division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trade ranges from $3.7395 to $3.8595, highest since May 7.
* Final market volume estimated at 16,897 lots.
* Copper buoyed by gains in aluminum and zinc, and rally across commodities complex, led by crude oil and gold.
* No extra buying on back of surprise 8.2 percent gain in April U.S. housing starts - floor broker.
* Traders cite tightness based on LME cash three-month backwardation widening out after midweek narrowing.
* Chinese demand seen slack. Chinese dealers have built up stocks and could wait for lower prices.
* Shanghai inventories rose 1 percent to 51,507 tonnes.
* LME copper stocks rose 375 tonnes.
* LME three-month copper <MCU3> was last traded at $8,420.00 a tonne, against Thursday's kerb close of $8,296. (Reporting by Barani Krishnan and Alden Bentley) ((barani.krishnan@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: barani.krishnan.reuters.com@reuters.net; 646 223 6192))
For the latest news and prices, click on the codes in brackets:
LME overview <RING>
LME Warehouse stocks <LME/STX1>
Spot gold/silver <XAU=><XAG=>
COMEX copper futures <0#HG:>
COMEX metals warehouse stocks <CMWST>-<CMWSV>
N.Y. metals hourly volumes <IZQI>
Vols/open interest <MTXM>
RELATED NEWS AND OTHER TOPICS Precious metals news [GOL] All metals news [MTL] All commodities news [C] Metals diary [MTL/DIARY] Ldn Bullion Mkt Assoc <LBMA01> Foreign exchange rates <FX=S>
Keywords: MARKETS COPPER/COMEX
(Recasts with end of summit, adds minister comment, details)
By Paul Simao
JOHANNESBURG, May 16 (Reuters) - South Africa's state power firm, under pressure from the ruling ANC party, agreed on Friday to phase in electricity price rises over five years instead of pushing for a sharp hike to address a dire power crisis.
Eskom, which produces about 95 percent of South Africa's electricity, provoked public anger when it asked for a revised 53-percent tariff increase. The African National Congress and union allies said that would hurt the poor and stoke inflation.
Regulators had approved an increase for Eskom [ESCJ.UL] of just over 14 percent for 2008/09.
Power cuts in January forced large gold and platinum mines to shut down for five days, pushing world precious metal prices higher. The mines are now operating at 90 to 95 percent of their normal electricity supply.
"We agree on the need for price increases and that they should be smoothed out," Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said at the end of an energy summit in Johannesburg that drew top officials from Eskom, government, the ANC and labour.
"It's going to be done over a five-year time period," Erwin said, adding that the price hikes, when approved by regulators, would be a shock for the economy.
Erwin was among a number of ministers in President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet who initially supported the utility's electricity price proposal as necessary to fund a 350 billion rand ($46.4 billion) infrastructure expansion.
They changed their tune in the face of opposition from the African National Congress and its labour and Communist allies.
Mbeki lost the leadership of the ruling party to rival Jacob Zuma late last year.
Zuma and other ANC and labour leaders argued that millions of South Africans would be unable to afford electricity if regulators approve Eskom's request. There are also fears it would fuel rising inflation, currently over 10 percent.
"We are convinced that the economy cannot afford that sharp increase in electricity prices," ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said at the summit. He said it would be wrong for Eskom to use price rises to recover from past losses.
COMPROMISE
Eskom has blamed its problems on a combination of factors, including the failure of the government to invest in electricity generating plants, maintenance problems at its existing facilities and wet weather that affected coal supplies.
While maintaining that sharply increasing the cost of electricity would put it on a firmer footing, Eskom has said it is willing to look at other options.
Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga said that the 53-percent price increase was only one of five scenarios that were on the table.
"The final decision comes from the regulators," Maroga told reporters on Friday, describing the summit as a success.
He added that Eskom would meet with government and other stakeholders for further talks to shore up the utility's finances in the face of the crisis.
Eskom's management has played down hopes it could increase electricity supplies quickly and has asked that consumers be patient while it builds new generating capacity.
The utility said on Friday it had awarded a 2.9 billion rand contract to a consortium of local companies to construct the main civil works of its Medupi power station. The total cost of the project is around 80 billion rand.
"Medupi is one of the key installations in Eskom's New Build Programme that is geared towards closing the current supply-demand gap," Brian Dames, Eskom's chief officer for generation, said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Phumza Macanda and Matthew Tostevin) ((paul.simao@thomsonreuters.com; +27 11 775 3152; Reuters Messaging: paul.simao.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: SAFRICA ESKOM/
NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. copper futures rose to an eight day high in early trade on Friday, following gains across the metals complex.
NOTE: For detailed report, click on [MET/L].
* July copper delivery <HGN8> up 9.30 cents at $3.8315 a lb on the COMEX. Range $3.7395 to $3.8420, highest since May 8.
* 9 a.m. EST volume estimated at 6,501 lots.
* Copper buoyed by gains in aluminum and zinc, and across commodities complex. Gold and oil surges watched.
* No extra buying on back of surprise 8.2 percent gain in April U.S. housing starts - floor broker.
* Traders cite tightness based on LME cash-three month backwardation widening out after midweek narrowing.
* Chinese demand seen slack. Chinese dealers have built up stocks and could wait for lower prices.
* Shanghai inventories rose 1 percent to 51,507 tonnes.
* LME copper stocks rose 375 tonnes.
* LME three-month copper rose to $8,432.50 a tonne as of 9:42 a.m. EST, from Thursday's kerb close at $8,296. (Reporting by Alden Bentley; editing by Jim Marshall) ((alden.bentley@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: alden.bentley.reuters.com@reuters.net; 646 223 6041))
For the latest news and prices, click on the codes in brackets:
LME overview <RING>
LME Warehouse stocks <LME/STX1>
Spot gold/silver <XAU=><XAG=>
COMEX copper futures <0#HG:>
COMEX metals warehouse stocks <CMWST>-<CMWSV>
N.Y. metals hourly volumes <IZQI>
Vols/open interest <MTXM>
RELATED NEWS AND OTHER TOPICS Precious metals news [GOL] All metals news [MTL] All commodities news [C] Metals diary [MTL/DIARY] Ldn Bullion Mkt Assoc <LBMA01> Foreign exchange rates <FX=S> Keywords: MARKETS COPPER/COMEX
(Recasts with impasse, adds mining minister, Eskom contract)
By Paul Simao
JOHANNESBURG, May 16 (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling party and its labour allies called on Friday for electricity prices to rise only gradually, rejecting the state power firm's appeal for a sharp hike to solve a dire power crisis.
Eskom [ESCJ.UL], which produces about 95 percent of the nation's electricity, is rationing power in response to a supply shortage that has led to regular and widespread blackouts and sent a chill through industry and investors.
Power cuts in January forced large gold and platinum mines to shut down for five days, pushing world precious metal prices higher. The mines are now operating at 90 to 95 percent of their normal electricity supply.
As part of its bid to tackle the crisis and fund a 350 billion rand ($46.4 billion) infrastructure expansion, Eskom has requested a revised 53 percent increase in electricity tariffs for 2008/2009. It had previously received a 14.2 percent hike.
The African National Congress (ANC) and its leftist allies, however, argue the poor and workers will be unable to afford electricity if regulators approve the request. There are also fears it would fuel rising inflation, currently over 10 percent.
"We are convinced that the economy cannot afford that sharp increase in electricity prices," ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said at an energy summit in Johannesburg that drew top officials from the ANC, government, business and labour.
He said it would be wrong for Eskom to use price rises to recover from past losses.
COMPROMISE
Mantashe later told reporters he expected a compromise to phase in price increases over a period of up to five years.
Eskom has blamed its problems on a combination of factors, including the failure of the government to invest in electricity generating plants, maintenance problems at its existing facilities and wet weather that affected coal supplies.
While maintaining that sharply increasing the cost of electricity would put it on a firmer footing, Eskom has said it is willing to look at other options.
President Thabo Mbeki and key ministers initially supported the utility's electricity price proposal but have since backed off in the face of ANC opposition. Mbeki lost the leadership of the ruling party to rival Jacob Zuma late last year.
"It is a fact that electricity cannot be treated as another commodity," Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said. "Any price increase, therefore, has to be treated with sensitivity and subjected to consultation with all the affected shareholders."
Eskom's management has played down hopes it could increase electricity supplies quickly and has asked that consumers be patient while it builds new generating capacity.
The utility said on Friday it had awarded a 2.9 billion rand contract to a consortium of local companies to construct the main civil works of its Medupi power station. The total cost of the project is around 80 billion rand.
"Medupi is one of the key installations in Eskom's New Build Programme that is geared towards closing the current supply-demand gap," Brian Dames, Eskom's chief officer for generation, said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Matthew Tostevin) ((paul.simao@thomsonreuters.com; +27 11 775 3152; Reuters Messaging: paul.simao.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: SAFRICA ESKOM/
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