(Reuters) - General Electric Co signed a $1.9 billion contract with Algeria to supply turbines for six power plants, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Under the deal Soci?t? Alg?rienne de Production de l'Electricit?, a unit of Algeria's national electricity and gas company, Sonelgaz Group, bought 26 heavy duty gas turbines from GE, the Journal said.
The turbines are for six new combined-cycle power plants that will add 8 gigawatts of power in Algeria by 2017 and aim to increase the country's generating capacity by 70 percent, the Journal reported.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Much attention is paid to melting sea ice in the Arctic. But less clear is the situation on the other side of the planet. Despite warmer air and oceans, there's more sea ice in Antarctica now than in the 1970s -- a fact often pounced on by global warming skeptics. The latest numbers suggest the Antarctic sea ice may be heading toward a record high this year. The reason may lie in the winds. A new modeling study shows that stronger polar winds lead to an increase in Antarctic sea ice, even in a warming climate.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers have created a new compound that can be integrated into silicon chips and is a dilute magnetic semiconductor -- meaning that it could be used to make "spintronic" devices, which rely on magnetic force to operate, rather than electrical currents.
The rest of the world is much more appalled at the spying of the National Security Agency on telephone, email, web browsers and other personal information than is the US public. As new revelations come out almost daily about the cavalier way in which the NSA has spied on the world?s presidents, parliaments and ordinary citizens it is natural that the rest of the world should begin responding to what they see as a dire threat to government and personal privacy.
The Indian government is preparing to ban government employees from using Google mail (gmail) or Yahoo mail for official purposes.
India is also considering requiring that all Indian-to-Indian email be carried solely on Indian servers inside the country. At the moment, Indian email (like that of most countries) bounces around the world before being delivered to the recipient, and likely will pass through US servers, opening it to being spied on by the NSA. One of the likely outcomes of NSA overreaching is that the internet will become more fragmented and hence less useful to the rest of us.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament is considering legislation that would fine private telecom and internet firms operating in Europe that turn data over to the NSA or give it a back door into their systems.
RT has a video report:
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Gulf of Mexico shrimp processors suffered a substantial setback Tuesday when the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that shrimp exports from Thailand to the United States would not be subject to "countervailing duties" -- assessments imposed to offset unfair subsidies on shrimp. In 2012, Thailand exported the largest portion of the targeted frozen warm-water shrimp to the United States -- shrimp valued at about $1.1 billion.
In its preliminary determination in late May, Commerce had excluded Ecuador and Indonesia from the assessments. Indonesia will remain excluded from the assessments, but Ecuador -- which often comes in second behind Thailand in terms of the targeted shrimp imports -- has been added to the list of countries that will have to pay such duties.
In its preliminary determination, Commerce had stated that some shrimp from Thailand would receive minimal duties, but on Tuesday -- after its more extensive investigation that included visits to each of the foreign countries -- the department changed course.
In addition to Ecuador, Commerce determined that certain frozen warm-water shrimp coming from India, Malaysia, Vietnam and China also would be subject to the duties. The imposed duties average about 15 percent.
In June, U.S. customs agents began collecting cash deposits at ports of entry for the certain frozen shrimp imports from China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam that were determined to require duties based on the preliminary investigation. The money collected from the Thai companies now will be refunded.
And once Commerce's final determination is published in the Federal Register, the Ecuador companies will have to begin paying duties.
In the preliminary phase of an investigation, Commerce's analysis was largely based on the information provided by the petitioners and questionnaires to the various foreign companies. For its final determination, Commerce verified that information in part by visiting the foreign companies.
Also on Tuesday, Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries members -- the coalition that filed the initial petitions asking for the trade investigation -- testified on the subsidy case before the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.
The International Trade Commission is expected to announce its final determination by Sept. 26 and final orders would be issued by Oct. 3.
But, regardless of the International Trade Commission's final determination, the Indonesia and Thailand investigations now are terminated because of Commerce's final determination. And if the International Trade Commission determines that additional foreign companies were not in violation of trade practices, then U.S. customs would refund the cash deposits taken during the intervening period.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., submitted testimony supporting countervailing duties -- including assessments for Thailand and Indonesia -- to the International Trade Commission hearing Tuesday.
"Today, we have the opportunity to throw a life jacket to our American shrimp industry which may otherwise drown," Landrieu wrote in her testimony.
She stated that imposing the countervailing duties "is to level the playing field, to support free and fair market conditions, and to provide the U.S. shrimp industry with a chance to once again flourish."
"If we don't stop unfair import competition, we will end up driving hard-working entrepreneurs out of this business and depriving one of America's cherished cultures of an industry that has flourished for generations," Landrieu continued.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? Police say gunmen on motorcycles have killed a mid-ranking police officer and his driver in northwest Pakistan.
Police officer Mohammed Ibrahim Khan says Amanullah Khan, a deputy superintendent, and his driver were killed Monday in the main northwest city of Peshawar. Khan was in charge of the traffic police in Peshawar.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion will likely fall on the Pakistani Taliban.
The group is based in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region along the border with Afghanistan and has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years.
Peshawar is located on the edge of the tribal region and has been hit by hundreds of attacks over the years.
