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As part of an intergovernmental agreement to deliver Russian natural gas

to Turkey, Stroytransgaz as general contractor undertook construction of

the Russian part of the Blue Stream pipeline systemÑthe

Izobilnoye-Dzhubga gas pipelineÑin 2001 and 2002. Gazprom was customer

for the project.

The gas pipeline, 320 kilometers in length, runs from the

Jordanian-Syrian border to the Al Rayan gas gathering station in the

area of Homs. The pipeline transports gas to electric power generating

plants and the countryÕs gas-distribution network.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew into Damascus on Tuesday, accompanied by his foreign security chief, to try to boost a plan that would keep Assad in power, even though many prominent members of the opposition reject that entirely.

"It's clear that efforts to stop the violence should be accompanied by the beginning of dialogue among the political forces," Lavrov said, according to the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass. "Today we received confirmation of the readiness of the president of Syria for this work.

Egyptian pipeline hit by fourth explosive attack since January

Operator to seek $8bn from Cairo over disruption to gas exports after gunmen blow up terminal a week on from last attack

Libya will resume large natural gas exports to Italy by early December at the latest, following the preliminary restart of the Greenstream pipeline Thursday, the North African country's top oil official said.

The gradual resumption of the pipeline operations--which shut down in February, providing a hit to Italy's natural gas needs--is the latest example of Libyan hydrocarbons returning to global markets.

In an interview, Nuri Berruien, chairman of Libya's National Oil Company, said "major exports will come at the end of November or early December at the latest."

Before the war, the 520-kilometre pipeline exported 26 million cubic metres a day of natural gas from Libya to Italy, according to the International Energy Agency

A pipeline that delivers gas from Algeria to Italy via Tunisia was hit by two explosions in northern Tunisia Monday but is still functioning, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

Israel and Lebanon, for example. The deposits extend into areas controlled by Lebanon, and it has accused Israel of moving in on its natural resources. Not so, says- Israel, which maintains that the fields lie between its territory and Cyprus.- Israel's minister of national infrastructures, Uzi Landau, even said-Israel would "not hesitate to use force" to protect the fields and uphold international maritime law.

"For example, Chinese, Indian and Russian companies are exploring deep seabeds for rare earth elements and valuable metals, but the United States cannot sponsor our companies to do the same," Clinton said. "Joining the Convention will level the playing field for American companies so they have the same rights and opportunities as their competitors."

Israel, which suddenly finds itself flush with natural gas, has offered to export it to India. The offer was made by Israeli finance minister Yuval Steinitz to the Indian government during his visit here last week. In his conversations with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, Steinitz is believed to have said that Israel was looking to export gas to India.

According to sources, the two countries will be setting up committees to do a feasibility survey of the offer. The discussions are expected to intensify during a rare visit by foreign minister SM Krishna to Israel in early January.

Lebanon has raised the stakes in the high-octane poker game under way in the natural gas-rich eastern Mediterranean by approving a law to administer offshore exploration and drilling, joining Israel, Cyprus and Turkey in a potentially explosive race for energy riches.

The Beirut government laid down the regulations for the emerging energy industry Wednesday.

"If all goes as scheduled," said Cesar Abi Khalil, an Energy Ministry adviser, "the licensing round will be held this year.

"The companies will have six months to bid and then the winners will be chosen and exploration will begin."

Energy expert Roudi Baroudi estimates that Lebanon's reserves total three times those of Libya's 54 trillion cubic feet. That's probably a major overestimate. But it's certain to heighten tension in the region triggered by Israel's discovery of major gas fields off its coast, a drive by nearby Cyprus to follow suit and Turkey's threat to send in its navy to stop the other two from joining forces to exploit the region's energy riches.

On top of this, Beirut claims parts of the Israeli gas fields lie in Lebanese waters. The two countries are technically at war.

Hezbollah, the heavily armed, Iranian-backed Lebanese "resistance movement," has warned it will repel Israeli efforts to "plunder" what it considers Lebanese energy reserves. Israel has vowed to use force to protect its assets.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 in which Lebanon's infrastructure was heavily bombed. The seasoned Lebanese fighters battled Israel's vaunted military to a standstill and claimed a "divine victory."

Both sides view the inconclusive conflict as unfinished business.

It remains to be seen whether the dispute over the vast natural gas reserves, along with several billion barrels of oil, in the Levant Basin will be the trigger for renewed war.

But the bottom line is the infrastructure Israel is building, including offshore platforms and export terminals, is vulnerable to attack by Hezbollah, and even Syria and Iran.

The Cypriot media report that Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) will begin drilling an offshore exploratory well at Block 12 on September 21. The well is located in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone, just 12 kilometers from Israel's Leviathan gas field, and previously Noble Energy had reported that it would not begin drilling until October.

Noble Energy will use the Homer Ferrington rig currently drilling at the Noa field, near Yam Tethys offshore from Ashkelon. Noble Energy and Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) jointly own Noa and Yam Tethys. Noble Energy obtained the concession for Block 12 in 2008, and its Leviathan and Tamar partner Delek Group has an option to acquire 30% of the concession through units Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) and Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L). Delek Group is seeking an amendment to the Securities Law (5728-1968) to allow it to exercise the option, and expects to obtain the amendment within a few months.

The new energy order is founded on rock -- the shale that traps vast stores of energy in deposits around the world. One of the largest deposits -- 250 billion barrels of oil in Israel's Shfela basin, comparable to Saudi Arabia's entire reserves of 260 billion barrels of oil -- has until now been unexploited, partly because the technology required has been expensive, mostly because the multinational oil companies that have the technology fear offending Muslims. "None of the major oil companies are willing to do business in Israel because they don't want to be cut off from the Mideast supply of oil," explains Howard Jonas, CEO of IDT, the U.S. company that owns the Shfela concession through its subsidiary, Israel Energy Initiatives. Jonas, an ardent Zionist, considers the Shfela deposit merely a beginning: "We believe that under Israel is more oil than under Saudi Arabia. There may be as much as half a trillion barrels."

It can be said that God has a sick sense of humor. Scientists recently discovered a massive offshore reserve of an estimated 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas called the Levant Basin Province. While it is one of the world's richest natural gas reserves, the Levant Basin Province is located between countries with endless amounts of mutual hatred. It straddles the sea borders of Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The largest section discovered so far, the Leviathan gas field, is believed to possibly contain, alongside natural gas, 4.2 billion barrels of oil. Leviathan straddles the Israeli-Lebanese maritime border. Israel is currently in a state of war with Lebanon and does not recognize the de-facto Hamas Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip.

Sharp words are already being exchanged between Jerusalem and Beirut. Upon discovery of the fields in June, Lebanon warned Israel not to drill within their maritime borders. Israel then escalated the rhetoric with military threats, as Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau threatened to use force to protect the natural gas fields. Following Landau's announcement, sophisticated security arrangements for Israeli natural gas rigs were leaked to the country's press. As of press time, further surveying is underway.

The largest natural gas deposit discovered in the eastern Mediterranean is the "Leviathan," situated in Israeli waters, could put Israel in a position of becoming an energy exporter. The Houston-Texas based Nobel Energy has signed agreements with the government of Cyprus and Israel to begin explorations in their respective territorial waters. (Cyprus and Israel signed a bilateral exclusive economic zone in December 2010.) Currently, talks are conducted between Greece, Israel and Cyprus on how the newly discovered energy riches can be exported to European markets.

Israel's ongoing energy-talks with Greece and Cyprus appear as a strategic decision to fully abandon future energy discussions with Turkey. In 2007, Turkish and Israeli officials held initial talks on constructing a 460-km oil and gas pipeline stretching from Ceyhan to Haifa. As Tel Aviv is turning towards Athens and Nicosia for cooperation on its energy security, it is possible that Israel's gas discoveries are not only seen as a "missed economic opportunity for Turkey, but rather as a strategic "threat."

At the backdrop of the gas discoveries in question, two emerging conflicts are brewing: The first is between Cyprus and Turkey, as Ankara does not recognize Nicosia's exclusive economic zone with Tel Aviv. And the second conflict is between Israel and Lebanon over an 850-square kilometer disputed maritime border, believed to potentially contain large gas and oil deposits.

The sea between Cyprus and Israel-Palestine-Egypt is reported to have vast reserves of natural gas. (Oil and gas for Cyprus and Israel: Where there's gas, will there be a pipeline?)

There is talk of co-operation between (Greek) Cyprus and Israel to construct a pipeline to transport gas to mainland Europe.

~~

According to a report in the 6 March 6 2004 edition of the Beirut Daily Star, the USA would like its troops stationed on Cyprus. ( http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/585/585p19.htm )

The UK and the US have had intelligence bases on Cyprus for many years.

They have sophisticated surveillance equipment on top of Mount Troodos. The USA has its listening post in Northern Cyprus.

Hence plenty of optimistic talk at the conference of co-operation between Cyprus and Israel to construct LNG terminals or a pipeline to transmit gas to energy-hungry Europe in competition with the network of pipelines, actual or proposed, from Russia and central Asia. Indeed, Noble apparently reckons a pipeline could be in operation as soon as 2014 or 2015.

This particular Cassandra is sceptical. Turkey, arguing that Cyprus has no authority to search for oil and gas while the island's division is not resolved, is furious at the idea that any gas revenues would go only to the Greek part of Cyprus, and is mounting its own exploration effort--complete with a military escort--in the sea to the north of the island.

Unfortunately, what's set to mar this happy news is the potentially third-world behavior of Israel's government. One of the main reasons energy companies took a chance on exploring the region was a 1952 Israel petroleum law that granted generous royalty and tax benefits to exploration companies. Now that those companies have actually found something -- at great expense and risk -- Israel's government wants more of the action.

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz is debating whether to change the terms of the lease retroactively so that the government could get better terms. The Wall Street Journal quoted Noble Energy's Davidson as saying a retroactive change would be "egregious". Davidson said such a move "would quickly move Israel to the lowest tier of countries for investment by the energy industry".

To defend its interests, Noble pulled in the State Department and former President Bill Clinton. "Mr. Clinton raised the issue in a private meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York in July, according to a Clinton aide. 'Your country can't just tax a U.S. business retroactively because they feel like it,' the aide said Mr. Clinton told Mr. Netanyahu," according to the Journal.

Whatever Bill Clinton's faults, he's certainly in the right in this case. If Israel wants to create new rules going forward that's one thing, but to alter prior agreements simply to get its hands on more lucre is unacceptable.

Earlier this week, Cyprus's Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis met with Sec. of State Hillary Clinton to discuss the find and its implications for regional security.

In September, Washington announced its support for the exploratory drilling offshore Cyprus despite objections from Turkey, a main US ally.

"The United States supports Cyprus' right to explore for energy. Having a US company involved in developing the energy resources of Cyprus is also positive," said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner.

Noble Energy operates the Cyprus A-1 well with a 70% working interest. Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration will each have 15%, subject to final approval by the Cyprus government.

President Barack Obama has been vacillating on offshore oil drilling because "he answers to corpocracy, oligarchy and the financial elite" in the United States, says online columnist Allen Roland. In an exclusive interview with Press TV's US Desk on Tuesday, Roland also criticized the mainstream press for poor coverage of the aftermath of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. "They just buried the story. People are getting sick all over the Gulf. I'm hearing horror stories about people havi ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been pressing Turkish officials to back off from threats to send warships to waters around Cyprus in a dispute over energy deposits, as it could jeopardize U.S. interests in the Mediterranean over gas fields that are being jointly developed by Cyprus and Houston-based Noble Energy Inc.

The newspaper Athens News reports that Greece's junior minister for energy and the environment, Yiannis Maniatis, who has tasked with leading the programme, held talks on January 3 with the Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos, and said that he expected the first off-shore drilling platform to be "symbolically launched somewhere in Greece" by the end of the year. However, this is likely to be wishful thinking. In the meantime, the Athens government has already begun the process for calling an international tender among oil companies interested in prospecting in the Gulf of Patras and in stretches of sea to the west of Ioannina and Katakolo, off the western coast of the Peloponnese.

Greek natural-gas supplier Depa has conducted a preliminary study into building an underwater pipeline between Cyprus and Greece, Environment and Energy Minister George Papaconstantinou said.

The pipeline, which would carry natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean, would run from Cyprus to the southern Greek Peloponnese region via the island of Crete and is "entirely feasible" from a technical aspect, Papaconstantinou told a Cypriot newspaper, according to an e-mailed transcript of his comments sent late yesterday from his Athens-based Ministry.

The project's economic viability must be investigated, and Depa is also looking at building a liquefied natural-gas terminal as a possible alternative, Papaconstantinou said. As well as being destined for export markets, Greece has a growing demand for natural gas, he said.

While the European finance ministers were discussing the financial troubles of Greece, the prime minister of the country George Papandreou arrived on a working visit in Moscow. His official talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were expected today. Papandreou was supposed to discuss in the Russian capital economy, energy and military issues. According to the Novosti news agency Greece and Russia are actively cooperating in the realisation of the oil pipeline project "Burgas-Alexandroupolis", in which Bulgaria is also participating. The agency reminded the problems with the unclear Bulgarian position on the project and the possibility the pipeline to be united in a joint consortium with another oil pipeline project Samsun-Ceyhan, on which-Russia is negotiating with Greece, Turkey and Italy.

"We are trying to make Greece the hub for gas transit to northern European countries either via Italy or through the Balkans," Greece's environment, energy and climate change minister stressed to-The Jerusalem Post-in an exclusive interview on Monday morning in Jerusalem.

The minister, Giorgos Papakonstantinou, was the first Greek official to visit Israel since the country's November 11 formation of a new coalition unity government headed by interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.

Rumours abound that-the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project,-intended to give Russia a new outlet for its oil exports, avoiding the busy Bosporus Strait, will be scrapped. After years of negotiations, the Russians are said to considering withdrawing-from the project, frustrated as they are by what they perceive as-lack of cooperation from the Bulgarian-government. Theodoros Tsakiris, the Director of EKEM's Observatory for European Energy Policy in Athens, explains what is behind-the bickering around the Trans Balkan Pipeline.

He graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE). He later obtained a Master of Arts in Economics from New York University and a PhD in Economics from LSE.

After his studies, he worked as a senior economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris from 1988 to 1998.

In 1998, Papakonstantinou returned to Greece and was appointed an adviser to then-Prime Minister Costas Simitis on "information society" issues.

Two years later, he was appointed Special Secretary for the "Information Society" at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (2000-2002). Between 2002 and 2004 he served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as a board member of OTE (Hellenic Telecommunication Organization), and as the Greek representative to the European Union's Economic Policy Committee (EPC). In 2003 he coordinated the "Lisbon Strategy" for economic and social reforms during the Greek Presidency of the EU.

Between 2004 and 2007, Papaconstantinou served as economic advisor to George Papandreou, the president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). He was also a board member of the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, PASOK's think tank, from 2005 to 2008.

Between 2003 and 2007, Papaconstantinou also taught economics at Department of Management Science and Technology of the Athens University of Economics and Business and advised the European Commission on research and information society issues, participating in various international research projects.

* The concession of ports and airports with long-term contracts

* The extension of concession period for Athens International Airport

* The sale of a stake of Public Gas Corporation

* The sale of a 49% stake of Casino Mont Parnes

* The privatization of state lotteries through concessions

* Finding a strategic investor in Hellenic Post

* The sale of a stake of OTE, Hellenic Defense Systems and Larko

* Renewal of OPAP's licenses

* Licenses for online betting and "slots"

* The concession of Egnatia Odos

* The sale of TRAINOSE

* The sale of state stakes in banks (Hellenic Postbank, ATEbank, Consignment and Loans Fund)

* The privatization of water supply companies (EYDAP, EYATH)

Mr. Sachinis was also Group Vice President of Standard & Poor's, where he grew key strategic businesses and developed one of them into the largest global financial quote distributor on the Internet.

The European Union is bracing for another potential energy crisis in the dead of winter as Russian gas supplies to some member states have suddenly dwindled by up to 30 percent.

The European Commission put its gas coordination committee on alert Friday, but insisted the situation had not yet reached an emergency level as nations have pledged to help each other if needed and storage facilities have been upgraded.

Commission spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said Russia was going through an extremely cold spell and needed more gas to keep its citizens warm.

She said that Russia's gas contracts "allow for certain flexibility in case they also need the gas. And that is the situation that Russia is facing at the moment." The severe winter in Russia has seen temperatures drop to minus 35 C.

Turkey's gas imports were set to rise on Wednesday after being slashed a day earlier by technical problems, with Azeri gas exports expected to resume while Iranian gas flows could also increase, according to company and Turkish officials.

An explosion Friday at an gas pipeline that runs from Iran to Turkey has disrupted gas exports, Iran's semi official Fars News Agency reported.

The explosion occurred early in the morning in a part of the pipeline that is in Turkish territory near the border with Iran, the news agency said.

The explosion could cause a halt in gas exports to Turkey for up to three days, the agency reported.

Authorities did not know what caused the blast but firefighters were able to extinguish the fire that came after the explosion.

A New Jersey neurologist-who has examined a number of the students from Le Roy who've come down with unusual neurological symptoms said last night he found evidence they could be suffering from Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections, known by the welcome acronym PANDAS.

Dr. Rosario Trifiletti said he found evidence of infection by one or both of two bacteria in eight of the afflicted students from the Genesee County school district.- You can read his full news release here.

PANDAS is a disorder in which young people can react to infection by streptococcus bacteria or other pathogens by displaying symptoms such as tics or obsessive compulsive behavior. Some physicians, like Dr. Trifiletti, say it's more common than one might think. I gather not everyone in the medical community agrees.

Dr. Trifiletti couches his diagnosis carefully in his news release. "All we have done here is provided evidence for exposure to two infectious agents as potential factors," the release quotes him as saying. "I encourage efforts to further explore genetic and other environmental factors that likely are playing an additional role here."

He states he's started these students on courses of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories in hopes that, if his diagnosis is correct, their twitching, gesturing and involuntary exclaiming will slow or stop.

PANDAS, is an abbreviation for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. The term is used to describe a subset of children who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and/or tic disorders such as Tourette's Syndrome, and in whom symptoms worsen following strep. infections such as "Strep throat" and Scarlet Fever.

The children usually have dramatic, "overnight" onset of symptoms, including motor or vocal tics, obsessions, and/or compulsions. In addition to these symptoms, children may also become moody, irritable or show concerns about separating from parents or loved ones. This abrupt onset is generally preceeded by a Strep. throat infection.

What is the mechanism behind this phenomenon? At present, it is unknown but researchers at the NIMH are pursuing a theory that the mechanism is similar to that of Rheumatic Fever, an autoimmune disorder triggered by strep. throat infections. In every bacterial infection, the body produces antibodies against the invading bacteria, and the antibodies help eliminate the bacteria from the body. However in Rheumatic Fever, the antibodies mistakenly recognize and "attack" the heart valves, joints, and/or certain parts of the brain. This phenomenon is called "molecular mimicry", which means that proteins on the cell wall of the strep. bacteria are similar in some way to the proteins of the heart valve, joints, or brain. Because the antibodies set off an immune reaction which damages those tissues, the child with Rheumatic Fever can get heart disease (especially mitral valve regurgitation), arthritis, and/or abnormal movements known as Sydenham's Chorea or St. Vitus Dance.

There are two variants of the oral vaccine currently in use: WC-rBS and BivWC. WC-rBS (marketed as "Dukoral") is a monovalent inactivated vaccine containing killed whole cells of V. cholerae O1 plus additional recombinant cholera toxin B subunit. BivWC (marketed as "Shanchol" and "mORCVAX") is a bivalent inactivated vaccine containing killed whole cells of V. cholerae O1 and V. cholerae O139. mORCVAX is only available in Vietnam. These oral vaccines provide protection in 52% of cases the first year following vaccination and in 62% of cases the second year.[3]

Shanchol, a vaccine approved by the WHO for worldwide use on 29 September, could brighten the outlook. It was developed by the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and is produced by Shantha Biotechnics in Hyderabad, India, a subsidiary of vaccine company Sanofi Pasteur. Two groups of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Haiti now intend to include the vaccine in their own emergency responses to cholera.

At US$ 1.85 a dose, Shanchol is cheaper than the only other currently available cholera vaccine -- Dukoral, made by Crucell, based in Leiden, the Netherlands. Shanchol is also given orally, and requires fewer doses in children under six, who are among the most vulnerable to cholera. The vaccine's benefits "are really clear for the outbreak contexts in which MSF works", says Julia Hill, vaccines policy adviser at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also called Doctors Without Borders, in Geneva, Switzerland. ....