Obama to seek new tax on oil in budget proposal

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama will launch a long-shot bid next week to impose a $10-a-barrel tax on crude oil that would fund the overhaul of the nation's aging transportation infrastructure, the White House said on Thursday.

The proposed fee, which would be paid by oil companies and phased in over five years, was quickly met with scorn by lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Congress.

In the last year of his presidency, Obama has said the country must stop subsidizing the "dirty" fossil fuels of the past and focus on clean, renewable fuels that do not exacerbate climate change.

"By placing a fee on oil, the President's plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invests in clean energy technologies that will power our future," the White House said in a statement.

Set to be officially announced in Obama's fiscal 2017 budget plan on Tuesday, the fee would provide nearly $20 billion a year to help expand transit systems across the country and more than $2 billion a year to support the research and development of self-driving vehicles and other low-carbon technologies.

Republican lawmakers, who have repeatedly clashed with the Obama administration over energy policy, panned the proposal on social media. House of Representatives Majority Whip Steve Scalise asked on Twitter whether the proposal was "Obama's worst idea yet?"

The $10 tax would come at a time of tumbling oil prices.

Oil prices fell last month to below $30 a barrel, the lowest level since 2003, as demand fails to keep pace with a glut of new supply and the world’s biggest oil producers resist cutting production.

"At a time when oil companies are going through the largest financial crisis in over 25 years, it makes little sense to raise costs on the industry," Neal Kirby, a spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said in a statement.

Kirby said the tax would ultimately be passed along to U.S. consumers, who have benefited from low gasoline prices.

Jeff Zients, director of the White House National Economic Council, pushed back against assertions the oil tax would place U.S. crude producers at a disadvantage. He told reporters on a call that the fee would be applied to domestically produced and imported barrels of oil but not to crude exported from the United States. REUTERS

Billions pledged for Syria as tens of thousands flee bombardments

LONDON - Donor nations pledged on Thursday to give $11 billion in aid to Syrians by 2020 as world leaders tried to tackle the world's worst humanitarian crisis, while Turkey reported a new exodus of tens of thousands fleeing air strikes.

With Syria's five-year-old civil war raging and another attempt at peace negotiations called off in Geneva after just a few days, a donor conference in London sought to address the needs of some 6 million people displaced within Syria and more than 4 million refugees in other countries.

Underlining the desperate situation on the ground in Syria, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the meeting that up to 70,000 Syrians were on the move towards his country to escape aerial bombardments on the city of Aleppo.

Davutoglu accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, backed by foreign fighters and Russian air strikes, of seeking to do the same to Aleppo as they did to the besieged town of Madaya, where dozens have starved to death.

"What they want to do in Aleppo today is exactly what they did in Madaya before, a siege of starvation," he told a news conference at the end of the event.

Turkey is already hosting more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees. Jordan and Lebanon are the other countries bearing the brunt of the Syrian refugee exodus.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said donors had pledged a total of $6 billion for Syrians for 2016, and a further $5 billion to be spent by 2020, describing the total as the largest amount ever raised in a single day for a humanitarian crisis.

U.N. agencies are appealing for $7.73 billion for this year, with governments of countries in the region asking for an additional $1.2 billion for their national response plans.

"We have combined a renewed effort to address the shortfall in humanitarian funding with a new approach to provide the education and jobs that will bolster stability in the region," Cameron said.

Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, where a significant share of the money pledged will be spent, committed to ensuring all refugee children in their countries would have access to education, and to opening up their economies so adult refugees could work.

Djokovic, hardcore champion of the hardcourts

MELBOURNE — Novak Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne in 2008 when Roger Federer still dominated the men’s game week to week. But this is unmistakably Djokovic’s era now as he hugs the baseline and applies relentless pressure.

Yesterday, he stamped his mark more indelibly on the Australian Open by tying Roy Emerson for the most men’s singles titles in the event’s long history. Emerson, an Australian, won six times from 1961 to 1967. Djokovic won his sixth by defending his title and defeating Andy Murray, 6-1, 7-5, 7-6.

Djokovic is a true all-surface threat. One suspects he would find a way to prosper on sand or wood as well, but it is on hardcourts where he is most in his element.

While many European players start on clay, Djokovic took his first cuts at the ball on the hardcourts across the street from his parents’ ski shop and restaurant in the Serbian ski resort of Kopaonik.

The true bounce helps him with his take-the-ball-early timing, and it also suits his movement: Allowing him firm footing to push off and make very quick shifts in direction, particularly when extended wide in the court.

It is quite a package, and eight of Djokovic’s 11 Grand Slam singles titles have now come on hardcourts: Six at the Australian Open and two at the United States Open.

Both tournaments use a cushioned acrylic surface from the same manufacturer, although the US Open surface has generally been quicker through the years.

Still, yesterday’s final was not just about Djokovic’s latest success; it was also about Murray’s latest disappointment. Murray is now 0-5 in Australian Open finals. No man has lost more without winning the title, and it is largely due to Djokovic, his boyhood friend on the European junior circuit, who has beaten him in the last four of those finals.

A final tally of 123 points to Djokovic and 99 to Murray shows that there was a significant margin between the two yesterday.

It was partly Djokovic’s defensive skills which made it feel impossible to put the ball past the defending champion. But there was also the dominance off the forehand wing.

Stoke smash club record to buy Imbula from Porto

LONDON — Stoke City shattered their transfer record by signing French midfielder Giannelli Imbula from Porto for 18.3 million pounds (S$37.6 million).

Imbula, 23, has signed a five-and-a-half year contract, said the club’s website (www.stokecityfc.com).

The fee dwarfs the 12 million pounds that the Premier League club paid for Swiss forward Xherdan Shaqiri from Inter Milan in August.

“I’m delighted. It was a long day but we have got a very good young player who has a lot of potential,” Stoke manager Mark Hughes told Sky Sports.

“A lot of things had to fall into place but they did thankfully.”

Imbula has Champions League experience with Olympique Marseille, the club he joined in 2013 from French rivals Guingamp.

He moved to Porto last year for 20 million euros (S$31 million).

Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes said: “Giannelli is a player we have been trailing for some time.

“At one stage it looked unlikely we would be able to get the deal over the line but things accelerated quickly earlier today and Giannelli is really excited about the prospect of playing in the Premier League with us.”

Stoke, who are ninth in the table, visit fifth-placed Manchester United today. REUTERS

Leicester can out-fox the Citizens

It is a four-way battle for this season’s English Premier League title, and tomorrow night second-placed Manchester City entertain the underdogs that simply refuse to go away, leaders Leicester City. It is THE most important contest of the campaign so far, and TODAY columnist Adrian Clarke (sports@mediacorp.com.sg) picks out five things we need to keep an eye on …

RANIERI: CONFIDENT OR CAUTIOUS?

When they fought out a goalless draw in late December, Leicester showed too much respect. Fearful of City’s attacking midfield maestros, Claudio Ranieri changed his 4-4-1-1 formation to a 4-5-1, dropping a forward to accommodate an extra defensive midfielder, Gokhan Inler.

It did not work.

In matches at Etihad Stadium it is even easier for managers to go into their shell, and to focus on “protecting”, but that is not the attitude that has taken Leicester to the summit. If they retreat too much again and invite waves of home pressure, the 90 minutes will feel more like 900.

The Foxes would be advised to remember they have the pace and firepower to unsettle a Man City side that does not enjoy being pressured. By unleashing their now familiar high-octane style, without being too gung-ho, the table toppers could be rewarded.

EXPOSING YAYA

Outgoing boss Manuel Pellegrini has a blind spot where Yaya Toure is concerned. It does not seem to matter how often the Ivorian is left trailing in the slipstream of dynamic opponents, the Chilean continues to deploy him as part of a standard midfield two. Sadly, he just does not have the athleticism to keep up.