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The World Bank's conflicted role in energy  Controversy among the Bank's executive directors http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/art-565914

Bank’s dual personality-As the Bank seeks to position itself as a suitable institution for future climate finance (see page 4), it has tried to shift attention away from its fossil fuel investments. It has trumpeted its increase in funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy to 40 per cent of its energy sector portfolio in 2009 (see Update 68), though observers have noted that this includes retrofitting of coal plants. However, a three year analysis on the Bank’s annual average lending to the energy sector (2007-2009) by NGO Bank Information Center shows an annual average of $2.2 billion going to fossil fuels each year including $470 million for coal. Only $780 million goes to renewables (see Update 68).

This looks set to continue, not least because a $3 billion Bank loan to the South African electricity company Eskom to complete a 4,800 megawatt coal-fired power plant is currently in the pipeline (see Update 65). The Bank has also recently agreed to loan $180 million to India for the renovation and modernisation of coal-fired generating units in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

The sponsors of the Nabucco gas pipeline, which is designed to carry gas from Central Asia to Europe, have reported that they approached the Bank's private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, about investing in the $1.5 billion project.Meanwhile the Bank’s climate investment funds have begun paying out money. Recent disbursements from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) have included $500 million to new renewable and energy efficiency in South Africa and $750 million to fund five concentrated solar power (CSP) programmes in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

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Gas Drilling Causes Mud Volcano – Kills 14 and Displaces 60,000 http://twilightearth.com/environment/gas-drilling-causes-mud-volcano-kills-14-and-displaces-60000/

A report released on Friday accuses energy firm PT Lapindo Brantas with inadvertently creating a mud volcano that killed 14 and displaced 60,000 people. The hot mud has been flowing since 2006 and Lapindo has denied any involvement in triggering the disaster through its drilling activities, for just as long. Lapindo has gone so far as to say that the mud volcano near Indonesia’s second-biggest city of Surabaya was triggered by an earthquake.

Richard Davies of Britain’s Durham University said that in the end, it was data that had been released by Lapindo that provided the evidence that drilling caused the volcano.

“We found that one of the on-site daily drilling reports states that Lapindo Brantas pumped heavy drilling mud into the well to try to stop the mud volcano. This was partially successful and the eruption of the mud volcano slowed down,” Davies said in a statement.“The fact that the eruption slowed provides the first conclusive evidence that the bore hole was connected to the volcano at the time of eruption.”

comment-also see...New research puts spotlight on Lapindo http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article206522.ece

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De Beers: Botswana chief found dead http://gazettebw.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5456:nchindo-found-dead-&catid=18:headlines&Itemid=2

A statement from De Beers Botswana Chief Executive Officer, Sheila Khama read: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Louis Goodwill Nchindo, the former representative of the De Beers Group in Botswana. During his 30 year career which started at Anglo American Corporation, followed by De Beers and lastly Debswana, Louis Nchindo became a leading figure in the global diamond industry. Our deepest thoughts and prayers are with his wife, children and grandchildren during these very difficult times.”

Dipheko Mothube was quoted in other publications as saying that shoes and a gun had also been found at the scene, along with a national-identity card and a driver's licence belonging to Nchindo.Nchindo was due to appear in court on April 6, at which Mogae was expected to provide prosecutor's evidence in the case, involving charges of forgery, giving false information, conspiracy to defraud and obtaining by false pretences.

comment-also see...BDP in De Beers, Debswana slush funds scandal http://www.sundaystandard.info/news/news_item.php?NewsID=6793&GroupID=1

De Beers and its appendage – Debswana Diamond Mining Company -have for close to three decades been running and maintaining slush funds to finance Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) election campaigns and to pay for lavish entertainment for ruling party big wigs and their friends – Sunday Standard investigations have revealed.

Mogae is a Liar - Nchindo http://allafrica.com/stories/201002040911.html

Nchindo is said to have been isolated by many of his friends who feel that he selfishly gave away too much just to save his skin and spite those he may feel betrayed him. In an interview with Botswana Guardian Mogae describes Nchindo as his 'former friend' and reveals that Nchindo tried to blackmail him bythreatening to expose his private life including the fact Mogae came with "girlfriends to his lodge" if he did not influence the withdrawal of the criminal charges he [Nchindo] is facing

Nchindo - The power and the gory  http://www.sundaystandard.info/news/news_item.php?NewsID=6967&GroupID=4

What happened next suggests that the adventurer did not fully grasp how easily things can go wrong, - it is rumored that Nchindo threatened both De Beers and government that if corruption charges against him were not dropped - he would spill the beans, a claim he has since denied. One version is that Nchindo fell out with a cabinet friend in South Africa who was determined to pull all stops to bring the Botswana power broker down. He allegedly found willing partners in the intelligence services and their local lawyer friend who were determined to stop Nchindo from spilling the beans.

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Electoral Mission complains that government subsidies are being used to coerce votes http://www.colombia.com/actualidad/autonoticias/politica/2010/02/15/DetalleNoticia37679.asp

Colombia.com (15/Feb/2010): Some of GOP candidates to Congress are coercing beneficiaries of government subsidies for them to vote in legislative elections on March 14 in exchange for not losing this aid, said Monday  The International Election Observation Mission. The mission, composed of NGOs from over seven countries, including Mexico, Canada and the United States at a press conference presented its report on the security and transparency facing Colombia in the face of upcoming parliamentary elections.

"Aspiring politicians  to the House and Senate have attended meetings with beneficiaries, which stated that if they do not vote for them and for the presidential candidate for the Party of the U subsidies they receive from the president will end" , the report said, without specifying the names of the applicants. The director of the NGO based in Mexico Americas Program Center for International Policy, Laura Carlsen, noted that in the four regions that were visited by the Observation Mission the respondents stated they listened to the candidates of the governing parties subsidies coercing them for votes.

"They come to the slums and tell people that if they do not vote for the ruling party they can end th subsidies, and  many live with these subsidies,wich is a threat that is not fair and it has much impact," said the expert. He indicated that other electoral crimes that could affect the day of 14 March and presidential elections next May 30. The International Election Observation Mission, led by U.S. NGO Global Exchange, visited the departments of Cordoba, Antioquia, Santander and Valle del Cauca, and expressed concern at targeted assassinations and persecution of community leaders, without referring to specific cases. 

The final report will be released next March 7 and from then forward  they will recommend to the authorities take action against electoral crimes. They also requested to pursue the "dummy elections," political structures in which should be  "seriously questioned" as they seek to perpetuate "mediating the change of names of parties or family leadership wich  if not illegal, they include a deep sense of illegitimacy in the democratic process . In contrast to the criticism, is highlighted as a positive citizen participation in electoral processes and their ability to develop actions aimed at defending and promoting human rights. Colombia has a busy schedule this year electoral legislative elections and the Andean Parliament March 14 presidential and 30 May, so that the authorities are on alert for possible outbreaks of violence extraordinary.

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Venezuela - Venezuela and the BBC - Part 1 (New Left Project) http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/venezuela_and_the_bbc_-_part_1/

Venezuela - Venezuela and the BBC - Part 2 (New Left Project) http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/venezuela_and_the_bbc_-_part_2/

Dr. Lee Salter is the leader of the journalism programme at the University of the West of England. He spoke to NLP about his current research into BBC coverage of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.

comment-also see..How credible is Human Rights Watch on Cuba? http://links.org.au/node/1506 

comment-The BBC has been spinning bias lies not only against middle east ,but also latin america...see...BBC's Pro-Israeli Bias http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9307 A Decade of Propaganda? The BBC's Reporting of Venezuelahttp://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=2085

Researchers at the University of the West of England, UK, have exposed ongoing and systematic bias in the BBC’s news reporting on Venezuela. Dr Lee Salter and Dr Dave Weltman analysed ten years of BBC reports on Venezuela since the first election of Hugo Chavez to the presidency in an ongoing research project, and their findings so far show that the BBC’s reporting falls short of its legal commitment to impartiality, truth and accuracy.

Spooks On The Job Selection Panel http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=BBC

Archived internal BBC documents from the 1980s, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under Freedom of Information legislation, have revealed that until the late 1980s the British spy service, MI5, was used to vet existing and potential staff at the public broadcaster. The paper reported that the documents revealed that "at one stage it [MI5] was responsible for vetting 6300 BBC posts - almost a third of the total workforce." The BBC adopted "categorical denial" as its "defensive strategy" to deflect questions about the practice by unions. A March 1, 1985, memo suggested the best approach was "keep head down and stonewall all questions." http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/tinker-tailor-broadcaster-spy--bbc-had-mi5-watch-its-staff/2006/07/02/1151778811129.html

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VIDEO-Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy Yves Engler http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgbrt7NJCtg

The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy sheds light on many dark corners of Canadian foreign policy: From troops that joined the British in Sudan in 1885 to gunboat diplomacy in the Caribbean and aspirations of Central American empire, to participation in the UN mission that killed Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, to important support for apartheid South Africa, Zionism and the US war in Vietnam, to helping overthrow Salvador Allende and supporting the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, to Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan today. 

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play_me_ah_jig_malita: Over 25% of Israeli settlements violating freeze http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=118672§ionid=351020202

Despite a moratorium on new settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, more than a quarter of settlements have begun building new homes in the region. 

According to the Peace Now group, the Israeli Defense Ministry, which is responsible for the occupied Palestinian territory, has documented violations in 29 settlements, AFP reported. 

In addition to that, Peace Now has recorded five other settlements, which have violated orders to freeze new settlement construction for ten months.

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Ecuador Delivers Land Titles to Andean Indians http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=351803&CategoryId=14089

Roughly 1,000 peasants in the Guano and Chambo districts of Chimborazo were beneficiaries of the titles, and the government also awarded low-interest loans for improving production and strengthening agricultural associations, the presidential press office said.

The leftist president, in a ceremony Friday in the Cuatro Esquinas community of Guano, recalled that during the last three years of his presidential term in office, more than 50,000 land titles have been granted in a number of provinces around the country.“

That is much more than in the last 30 years,” he said, adding that it is an example of what amounts to a “citizens’ revolution” under his administration. He added that his plan to transform Ecuadorian society includes the principle of no more landless peasants, which the government hopes to achieve by granting 250,000 land titles over the next three years.