You've got to respect Global Witness ... for a watchdog NGO, they bring a lot of creativity and innovation to their cause (see this past campaign for another example).  GW has also done a tremendous job in the past unearthing all the corruption surrounding RosUkrEnergo, a subject which has come up again and again (let's just say the corruption scandal reaches pretty high).  Today they published another hot report to remind the European Commission how they've got it all wrong in selling out human rights and democracy to the brutal dictatorship in Turkmenistan in exchange for eventual access to natural gas ... including a collaboration with the political cartoonist David Rees.Click here ...

Above is a graph of various commodity ETFs. The main ticker is UNG (United States Natural Gas Fund), a ETF which tracks prices of natural gas delivered at Henry Hub. OIL is the iPath Oil ETN. JJA is the iPath Agricultural Commodities ETN.  JJM is the iPath Industrial Metals ETN. And, JJP is the iPath Precious Metals ETN. The chart displays the year-to-date performance of these various commodity indexes and it’s plainly obvious that one stands out among the others. Generally speaking, non-energy commodities have been on an upward trend since the beginning of the year and in fact would have provided mid-to-high teens returns just in the last few months! Even oil, though down precipitously in the first

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Major energy companies are lined up to lock deals and land big profits with India’s new nuclear trade. India was out of the global nuclear loop for over 30 years, until now.

Jason Simpkins of Money Morning says that “…some analysts estimate that India’s nuclear energy sector could be worth as much as $200 billion.”

Here he shows us what majors are lined up for the deal:

India launched its first nuclear test in 1974, but the country refused to sign the global Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). As a result, the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) banned India from global nuclear trade.

That ban was lifted last September when Washington pushed through a “waiver” that freed India from 34 years of sanctions.

Critics of the deal worry that by lifting the trade

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International industrial giant ABB Ltd. (ADR:ABB) is set to generate big business as governments around the world implement economic stimulus packages. Horacio Marquez says the company’s bullet-proof balance sheet, strong margins and solid cash flow will mitigate the fallout from the global credit crisis. And its strong long-term prospects make it a great buy today.

This from Money Morning:

Although ABB Ltd. (ADR:ABB) has been around for 120 years, it’s one of those rare companies that’s kept current with the times. It continues to do so and those efforts are generating tangible results.

Indeed, as Money Morning noted in its July 7 overview of ABB, the Zurich-based industrial giant is a virtual lock to benefit from the many billions in stimulus money governments around the globe will be directing into such infrastructure-related areas as highway, construction and power-generation.

These promising opportunities remain.  In fact

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November 14, 2008 – LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) one of our favorite companies to tout on the Small Cap Pulse, tipped to a lowly $12.40 in yesterday’s session before closing back up to $14.32. The management took the time this week to remind the Street that its fundamentals remains strong, despite a challenging global economic environment: secured contracts of 1.8GW for 2009, more than 100% of current planned output for the year; operating at full capacity; strong cash position of $460 million with available line of credit for another $430 million. At current levels, we think the stock is ridiculously oversold and represents a huge upside – near and long term. Here is why: At yesterday’s closing price, the stock is trading at a P/E ratio of 5.26x trailing-twelve months’ earnings and a P/S ratio of 1.49x trailing-twelve months’ sales. We are forecasting FY2008 revenue of $1.8 billion and profit of ...

viastockadvisors

“It is an inescapable fact that power grids throughout the U.S and Europe are in desperate need of upgrades and repairs,” says leading value investor Nathan Slaughter.

In his Half-Priced Stocks newsletter, the advisor explains, ““Swiss-based ABB is a world leader in power infrastructure, working with customers in over 100 countries around the globe.”

Track Half-Priced picks at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/577

“Many power grids were constructed in the 1950s and have received only the bare minimum in maintenance over the past few decades, despite steady increases in annual electric consumption.

“The ASCE has downgraded our nation’s energy grid to a ‘D’, citing dwindling maintenance expenditures and the higher threat of bottlenecks and potential blackouts.

“U.S. power consumption is expected rise 34% within the next 25 years. Worldwide, power consumption is expected to grow nearly twice as fast.

“Clearly, a large sum of money will have to be spent if that much power is to

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Acorn Energy Inc. (ACFN) is a “green” holding company focused on two goals: improving the efficiency of the energy grid and reducing the environmental impact of the energy sector. Acorn’s operating companies leverage advanced technologies to transform the existing energy infrastructure.

Acorn’s strategy is to take controlling positions in companies led by great entrepreneurs and add value by supporting those companies with marketing, strategy, and business development. Acorn has equity interests in three public companies: Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV), Toronto-listed GridSense, and Frankfurt-listed Paketeria AG. Acorn also has interests in four private companies: CoaLogix, Coreworx, Local Power, and DSIT.

On August 15, 2008 Acorn Energy announced the company’s 2nd quarter results. Revenues increased by 430% to $3.6 million while revenues for the first six months of 2008 increased by 359% to $7.9 million. Gross profit for the 2nd quarter increased by approximately $1 million, while the gross profit for the first six months

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