A humanitarian crisis is underway as the Gaza Strip's only power plant began to shut down on Sunday & the tiny coastal territory entered its third full day without shipments of vital food and fuel supplies due to Israel's punitive sanctions.

The Gaza Strip's power plant has completely shut down on Sunday because it no longer has the fuel needed to keep running. One of the plant's two electricity-generating turbines had already shut down by noon.

The Australian share market is experiencing its biggest one-day fall since the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. 

Local stocks have plunged 6.4 per cent, after heavy losses on Asian and European markets overnight. 

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said that if she became president, the federal government would take a more active role in the economy to address what she called the excesses of the market and of the Bush administration. 

The Republican presidential contest entered a new phase on Sunday as the campaigns descended on Florida for the first primary in which all the candidates are participating full force, using as their stage a state famous for divisive election battles.  

I'm feeling a bit sad tonight. The main reason that I orginally came here, to warn of the US military takeover of Adelaide, has been finalised over the last few days, and South Australia has had the last nails driven into the coffin of its independence from global events. In fact, we've been globalised "military style."

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[The Australian Paul Maley | January 19, 2008]

A BRITISH firm yesterday became the Australian Defence Force's biggest supplier, in a $775 million deal that also consolidated Adelaide as the nation's defence industry hub.

from Crikey ….. 

Thanks to high oil prices and hefty subsidies, corn-based ethanol is now all the rage in the United States.  

The Wall Street gurus who presided over the sub-prime mortgage crisis currently shredding global share markets have awarded themselves bonuses totalling $US33.2 billion ($38 billion). 

In a concession to the crisis - which has forced America's largest banks to write off billions in bad investments and raise billions more to shore up their capital reserves - the bonuses were down nearly 5 per cent on the previous year. 

keep power in our hands: campaign against NSW electricity privatisation …..  

By Dr Patricia Ranald 

A Pentagon office that claims to monitor terrorist threats to U.S. military bases in North America - and was once reprimanded by the U.S. Congress for spying on antiwar activists - has just awarded a multi-million dollar contract to a company that employs one of Donald Rumsfeld’s former aides.

“Australia has sacrificed the principles of science-based management and sustainable use that are the world standard (and which Australia uses in other international forums and for the management of its own wildlife) as a political expediency to satisfy the interests of non-government organisations. 

Surfer Swan hits heavy weather …..

English classic actor Michael Gambon once defended his right to keep some things private from an intrusive media by saying if an audience knew everything about a thespian say, perhaps, that he was a model railway enthusiast it would detract from the performance.

Sometimes, in a bid to appear human, aspiring politicians reveal just a little too much of themselves.  

A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes that foods from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as those from ordinary animals, effectively removing the last U.S. regulatory barrier to the marketing of meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and goats. 

Pope Benedict XVI has cancelled a planned visit to a prestigious Italian university after a protest by academics and students attacked his views on Galileo, the Vatican confirmed Tuesday. 

The pope had been due to give a speech at La Sapienza university in Rome Thursday to open its academic year. 

Romney wins in Michigan primary ….. 

Republican Mitt Romney has won the US state of Michigan's presidential primary, beating Senator John McCain. 

Giving a victory speech to jubilant supporters as the results came in, Mr Romney said the win marked 'the beginning of a comeback'.