Huge US coal-fired power generator AEP pays $US4.6 billion to reduce emissions, clean up environment

One of the United States’ largest power generators had agreed to end a years-long federal lawsuit by paying $US4.6 billion to reduce pollution that had eaten away at north-east mountain ranges and national landmarks, wrote Lara Jakes Jordan in The Australian Financial Review (10/10/2007, p.19).

Multinational mercenaries: Iraq private-security contractors still immune from Iraqi law

Their helicopters buzzed through the Baghdad sky, their patrols bristled with the latest weaponry and their armoured vehicles carried the latest high-tech gadgets, wrote Paul Tait in The Canberra Times (22/9/2007, p.B2).

Deep concerns about regional arms race; US spends $A18 billion to dramatically expand military base in Guam; Aus intelligence listens in on neighbours

Australia’s involvement in the four-nation Operation Malabar in the Bay of Bengal highlighted deep concerns about a regional arms race, according to Ross Peake, National Affairs Writer, in The Canberra Times (8/9/2007, p.B5).

6 September: Israel air-raid on Syria, hit Syrian facility, near Turkish border; joint operation with US on unknown target?

Israel’s decision to attack Syria earlier this month came after Israel shared intelligence with President George Bush indicating that North Korean nuclear personnel were in Syria, according to US Government sources. Unlike Israel’s destruction of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, Israel made no announcement of the recent raid and imposed strict censorship on reporting by the Israeli media.

Market report for week to Saturday, 29 September: Spikes push Qld average price up 9pc, with NSW, Vic SA and Qld down 5-9pc to $40.61-$54.90/MWh range on weaker demand

Spikes on three days with top prices between $153.12/MWh and $1710.58/MWh pushed up Queensland’s average price by 9 per cent while the spike-free regions of NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania fell 5-9 per cent to an overall range of $40.61-$54.90/MWh.

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership a potential nuclear suppliers cartel; IAEA proposals for multilateral fuel supply system may falter on participants’ NIMBY attitude toward nuke waste dumps

Michael Richardson – a former Asia editor of the International Herald Tribune, and a security specialist at the Institute of South-East Asian Studies in Singapore – wrote in The Canberra Times, (25/9/2007, p.17), “France had echoed earlier warnings from the United States and Israel that if negotiations with Iran over its controversial nuclear program failed, military action might follow. The United Nations Security Council has called on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and other sensitive nuclear technologies”.

Seawater desalination costs over three Australian cities could vary from AUD $1.15 to $3.00 a cubic metre of product water (USD $0.95- 2.50)

Consultants to the Australian Prime Minister on water supply options for Australian cities noted that low cost water supply options depended on “favourable locations and situations” for the options, wrote the WWF’s Phil Dickie.

“The Iraq war is largely about oil”, says ex-US Fed Reserve chair, Alan Greenspan

Former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan created another Iraq-related crisis for the Bush Administration, alleging in his new memoir that “the Iraq war is largely about oil”, reported The Canberra Times (18/9/2007, p.7).

Iran unveils new home-grown fighter jet: “Our forces like a thunderbolt will blind the eyes of the enemies of our land”

Iran has unveiled a new home-grown fighter jet amid growing tensions with the United States, and said the plane could “blind the eyes” of its enemies, reported The Canberra Times (22/9/2007, p.15).

Israel declares Gaza an “enemy entity” and said it would cut off power and fuel supplies to the coastal strip of Gaza

In Jerusalem, Israel’s Security Cabinet declared the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity” last night and said it would cut off power and fuel supplies to the coastal strip. The move threatens to cloud U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to the region on a peacemaking mission. The group of top Israeli political and defence ministers did not set a date for a cut-off. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said Israel did not intend to provoke a humanitarian crisis.The Advertiser, 20/9/2007, p. 31