News in Brief - Watching
Watchdog: New nuclear reactor designs 'unsafe'
The Health and Safety Executive has raised "significant concerns" about the two main new nuclear reactor designs put forward by energy multinationals for the UK's next generation of power stations. The step 3 report of the Generic Design Assessment identifies a series of shortfalls and safety flaws in the EPR reactor design, promoted by French companies EDF and Areva, and the AP1000 reactor, built by American power firm Westinghouse, now owned by Japanese Toshiba.
Link: www.hse.gov.uk/newreactors/reports.htm
Iraqi oil goes under the hammer
The world's largest oil companies will be meeting for a three-day conference to work out contractual conditions for controlling Iraq's oil reserves. Despite being rejected by the Iraqi people earlier this year, the new oil law, designed and pushed by the occupation forces and big business, is being implemented by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil as it steams ahead with 20-year contracts to run Iraq's biggest producing fields, with a combined total of 40 billion barrels. Forty-five companies, including Exxon, BP, Shell and Total, 'pre-qualified' for the auction, the second since the US-UK-led invasion in 2003.
Link: www.handsoffiraqioil.org/2008/11/protest-corporate-carve-up-december-1st.html
Companies: www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSLB44735420090811 ... its treasures, too Meanwhile, Google has been documenting Iraq's National Museum and will post over 14,000 photographs of its ancient treasures on the internet early next year. The move is said to be part of a US bid to "entice foreign firms to invest in Iraq." At a news conference at the Baghdad museum earlier this month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, "Most American companies are not yet operating in Iraq, and we would like to show that it's possible to do business in Iraq, that Iraq is an important market that will grow quickly, that it's sufficiently stable." UN bolsters fortunes of the biotech industry The push for GM and patented crops under the guise of increasing food security in the global south continues. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) now plans to hold an international technical conference on agricultural biotechnologies in the 'developing world', in conjunction with the Mexican government. The conference is to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, 1st - 4th March 2010, and boasts the World Bank, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research as its major partners with the International Fund for Agricultural Development as co-sponsor. Link: www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/11/26/un-eyes-next-steps-on-food-security-biotech-pleased-with-summit-mention/ Dirty Dow's 'commitment' to clean water Dow, the notorious chemical corporation, has announced a series of 6km run/walks, concerts and 'water education' activities around the world on 18 April 2010. The PR exercise, called the 'Dow Live Earth Run for Water', was described by the company as its "next step in [its] commitment to clean water." However, Dow's dirty legacy worldwide is well documented: from producing Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War and the dumping of dioxins in the Saginaw River basin, to its refusal to accept liability for compensating the victims of the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India, in 1984 (Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001). Twenty five years on, groundwater in Bhopal is still registering dangerous levels of toxicity. Dow's partner in the event is Live Earth, the creator of the infamous Concerts for a Climate in Crisis in 2007. Link: http://news.dow.com/dow_news/feature/2009/10_05_09/index.htm
Dirty Dow: http://old.studentsforbhopal.org/DirtyDow.htm Copenhagen's mermaid is angry with corporate lobbyists As campaigners prepare for protests against the UN climate talks in Copenhagen from 7th to 18th December, big business has been lobbying to block effective action to tackle climate change, while also seeking to benefit from it. Copenhagen's mermaid is angry about the corporate lobbyists. Watch her in action:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7df0w56AbNg
Companies: www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSLB44735420090811 ... its treasures, too Meanwhile, Google has been documenting Iraq's National Museum and will post over 14,000 photographs of its ancient treasures on the internet early next year. The move is said to be part of a US bid to "entice foreign firms to invest in Iraq." At a news conference at the Baghdad museum earlier this month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, "Most American companies are not yet operating in Iraq, and we would like to show that it's possible to do business in Iraq, that Iraq is an important market that will grow quickly, that it's sufficiently stable." UN bolsters fortunes of the biotech industry The push for GM and patented crops under the guise of increasing food security in the global south continues. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) now plans to hold an international technical conference on agricultural biotechnologies in the 'developing world', in conjunction with the Mexican government. The conference is to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, 1st - 4th March 2010, and boasts the World Bank, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research as its major partners with the International Fund for Agricultural Development as co-sponsor. Link: www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/11/26/un-eyes-next-steps-on-food-security-biotech-pleased-with-summit-mention/ Dirty Dow's 'commitment' to clean water Dow, the notorious chemical corporation, has announced a series of 6km run/walks, concerts and 'water education' activities around the world on 18 April 2010. The PR exercise, called the 'Dow Live Earth Run for Water', was described by the company as its "next step in [its] commitment to clean water." However, Dow's dirty legacy worldwide is well documented: from producing Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War and the dumping of dioxins in the Saginaw River basin, to its refusal to accept liability for compensating the victims of the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India, in 1984 (Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001). Twenty five years on, groundwater in Bhopal is still registering dangerous levels of toxicity. Dow's partner in the event is Live Earth, the creator of the infamous Concerts for a Climate in Crisis in 2007. Link: http://news.dow.com/dow_news/feature/2009/10_05_09/index.htm
Dirty Dow: http://old.studentsforbhopal.org/DirtyDow.htm Copenhagen's mermaid is angry with corporate lobbyists As campaigners prepare for protests against the UN climate talks in Copenhagen from 7th to 18th December, big business has been lobbying to block effective action to tackle climate change, while also seeking to benefit from it. Copenhagen's mermaid is angry about the corporate lobbyists. Watch her in action:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7df0w56AbNg