1. PRC Energy Supply

While preparing for a visit from Chinese President Hu Jintao, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced his plan to increase oil sales to China to half a million barrels per day within five years. Venezuela is seeking to reduce its reliance on the United States for oil sales, while China is looking to diversify its supply sources beyond the Middle East.

2. Japan Energy Supply

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in one of his last trips in office, set off for Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to seek energy supply agreements. On the first day of his trip, he discussed nuclear cooperation with Kazakhstan.

3. Regional Energy Cooperation

China and South Korea signed an agreement to cooperate on a broad range of energy issues, including oil reserves, electricity, gas and renewable energy. South Korea meanwhile also signed an agreement with Japan on nuclear cooperation, although details were not disclosed.

4. Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Matthew Bunn, Director of the Managing the Atom Project at Harvard University, argues that for the near future, dry cask storage is a better, safer, and cheaper option for dealing with spent nuclear fuel than recylcing or reprocessing.

5. Emissions Reduction

The National Emissions Trading Task Force of Australia published a discussion paper on a possible national emissions trading scheme.

6. PRC Energy Savings

China seems unlikely to meet its goal of reducing energy consumption by 4 percent per unit of GDP this year, as consumption rose 0.8 percent in the first half.

7. Bird Flu Tracking

Leading scientists have created a Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID) to encourage scientists and nations to share data rapidly with other scientists worldwide. The initiative was created because current methods of sharing data through the World Health Organization were deeemed inadequate to deal with the magnitude of the threat from avian influenza.