Terror
More than 100 suspects are awaiting trial in British courts for terrorist offences – a figure unprecedented in modern criminal history – Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former spy chief, has revealed. Britain is a centre of intense plotting and faces a terrorist threat of “unprecedented scale, ambition and ruthlessness”. In a stark warning for the future, Dame Eliza added: “It remains a very real possibility that they may, sometime, somewhere attempt a chemical biological, radiological or even nuclear attack”.
Sunday Telegraph 8th July 2007 more >>
Germany
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, is preparing to perform a major U-turn by scrapping plans to abandon nuclear power. The move would bring Berlin into line with many of its European neighbours, who are investing heavily in new and existing sources of atomic energy, but puts Mrs Merkel on a collision course with the country’s powerful green lobby and her coalition partners. Mrs Merkel’s dramatic change of heart surfaced at an energy summit attended by government and industry heads in Berlin last week, when it became clear that her ruling grand coalition’s aim of closing Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants by the early 2020s were at odds with targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Sunday Telegraph 8th July 2007 more >>
British Energy
British Energy could be forced to give up some of its reactor sites, denting its ambitions to host all of the UK’s next generation of nuclear power stations. The nuclear generator has been in talks with European energy groups EDF, RWE and E.ON about forming a consortium to build the new reactors, which will be on existing sites. British Energy – part-owned by the Government – wants to sell its sites or exchange them for involvement in a consortium. But it has emerged that the Government could take back ownership of the company’s oldest reactors. This could complicate British Energy’s negotiations with potential partners if it cannot guarantee that it will retain all its sites.
Independent on Sunday 8th July 2007 more >>
New nukes
The government’s energy policy appears to be in disarray again after the Prime Minister gave his unreserved support for nuclear power, despite promises of a full public consultation. Ministers had to make an embarrassing climbdown earlier this year and launch a second consultation on whether to replace Britain’s ageing nuclear power stations, after a high court judge ruled the first consultation was ‘seriously flawed’ and ‘misleading’. Last night Greenpeace, which brought the first successful case, warned it could act again after Gordon Brown told MPs, ‘we have made the decision to continue with nuclear power’ before the end of the consultation – started by the Department of Trade and Industry and taken over by the new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Observer 8th July 2007 more >>
Companies
Gazprom, the world’s sixth-largest company, owner of 17% of the Earth’s gas reserves and provider of one-quarter of western Europe’s gas, has regularly been tipped as a buyer of big British companies. Last year the government was thrown into a spin by reports that Gazprom was about to make a move on Centrica, owner of British Gas. It proved to be a false alarm. But Gazprom is still keeping an eye on Britain – in an interview with The Sunday Times, Medvedev was careful not to rule out a big deal. “Prices today are at the top level, but at the right price and at the right time, we could consider something,” he said.
Sunday Times 8th July 2007 more >>
