n the spring of 2007, a retired senior official in the U.S. Justice Department sat before Congress and told a story so odd and ominous, it could have sprung from the pages of a pulp political thriller. It was about a principled bureaucrat struggling to protect his country from a highly classified program with sinister implications. Rife with high drama, it included a car chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., and a tense meeting at the White House, where the president's henchmen made the bureaucrat so nervous that he demanded a neutral witness be present.
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According to a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations, "There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously." He and other sources tell Radar that the database is sometimes referred to by the code name Main Core. One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

South Africa's government has pledged to protect foreigners threatened by a recent outbreak of violence that has forced 13,000 to flee their homes.

Officials also said the country would not deport migrants without documents during the current period.

The attacks began a week ago north of Johannesburg, before spreading to the city and surrounding areas.

At least 23 people have been killed, and ministers have been discussing using troops to quell the violence.

On Tuesday police fired rubber bullets to disperse a crowd in one suburb during a crackdown on the violence.

Almost every country in the Middle East has announced nuclear energy plans in the space of less than a year, in response to Iran's dramatic progress towards atomic power, it was reported yesterday.

Iran's pursuit of uranium enrichment in defiance of UN security council resolutions has increased tensions with the US. Yesterday, Israel army radio reported that a senior US administration official told the Israeli government during last week's presidential visit that George Bush and Dick Cheney still intended to mount military action against Iran.

The White House dismissed the report, saying it remained committed to diplomacy and economic pressure to force Iranian compliance.

Iran's success in enriching uranium, which Tehran insists is purely for peaceful energy generation, has caused anxiety in Israel, which has an undeclared nuclear arsenal, and across the Arab world. Between February 2006 and January 2007, twelve Arab states and Turkey declared their interest in developing nuclear energy .A report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said the resurgence of interest brought with it the risk of a "proliferation cascade" of nuclear arms across the region.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.

The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.

The measure passed in a 324-84 vote, a big enough margin to override a presidential veto.

The legislation also creates a Justice Department task force to aggressively investigate gasoline price gouging and energy market manipulation.

"This bill guarantees that oil prices will reflect supply and demand economic rules -- instead of wildly speculative and perhaps illegal activities," said Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, who sponsored the legislation.

"Pour certains scientifiques (notamment les membres de l'ASPO, Association for the Study of Peak Oil), la production mondiale de pétrole atteindra un pic à une date qui fait débat et connaîtra ensuite un inexorable déclin."

Which translates to
"According to some scientists (in particular the members of ASPO, Association for the Study of Peak Oil), the world oil production will reach a peak at a date that is the subject of some debate, and will then inexorably decline."

So, to all those who tell me that when people dispute peak oil they merely dispute the fact that a major, irreversible peak in price will completely dismantle the economy, I invite them to read that sentence again. It's said that the idea that PRODUCTION will peak at some point is merely according to some scientists. Even though it is a trivial mathematical fact provided that oil extracted in any given year is never less than oil recreated from decomposition of organic matter.

The article in French is there: http://fr.biz.yahoo.com/20052008/202/le-petrole-s-approche-du-seuil-des-130-dollars-le.html

It also quotes a banker pretty much implying that the idea that real availability constraints will appear in the coming few years is complete fantasy.
And so I maintain that the level of denial goes beyond the difficulties to adapt to the decline of production, what's being denied is also the indisputability of said decline.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

The rocketing price of a barrel of oil has prompted American Airlines to make swingeing cuts to its aircraft fleet, workforce and timetable in a sign of the severity of the cost storm gathering over the global aviation industry.

The world's largest airline intends to scrap 75 planes and will reduce the number of seats available on domestic routes by between 11% and 12% this year. An unspecified number of jobs will be lost from AA's 85,000-strong payroll as the airline closes and merges facilities.

The downsizing is AA's sharpest since the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001. On Wall Street, the company's shares plunged by 16% to a three-year low of $6.93.