Assange imprisonment has gone on for too long: Foreign Minister Penny Wong
Bendigo Advertiser, By Andrew Brown, April 17 2023
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called for the extradition case against Julian Assange to come to an end.
Senator Wong said the legal case and imprisonment of the WikiLeaks co-founder has been going on for too long.
Mr Assange has been imprisoned in the UK for more than four years and faces extradition to the US on espionage charges.
Appeals to stop his extradition are currently before the UK courts.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Senator Wong said the government would continue to press for Mr Assange’s release…………………………………
Last week, almost 50 Australian MPs and senators signed a letter to US Attorney-General Merrick Garland urging him to end the pursuit of the WikiLeaks co-founder.
Advocates have urged for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to raise the issue of Mr Assange during upcoming meetings with US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/8161607/assange-imprisonment-has-gone-on-for-too-long-wong/?src=rss
Germany’s last nukes shut down — Beyond Nuclear
As planned, Germany closed the last of its three operational reactors on April 15. These were kept running beyond their original December 2022 shutdown dates, largely as a political concession to conservative minority partners within the German government, as their electricity was not actually needed. The German winter energy crunch was related to a cutoff of gas imports from Russia, needed for heating. Since German heating is not electric, nuclear power had no role to play in easing that situation.
Amidst all the false propaganda in circulation that the German nuclear shutdown has caused a rise in coal use in Germany, it’s important to note an important historical fact that is the genesis for the German green energy revolution — known in Germany as the Energiewende.
Germany’s last nukes shut down — Beyond Nuclear
The Renewable Energy Act of 2000 stipulated as a pre-condition, that if nuclear power plants were to be shut down, these would be replaced by renewable energy and not by fossil fuels. And by creating a favorable and reliable investment environment for renewables, this is exactly what happened. Given its starting point in 2000, the growth of renewables has been stratospheric and Germany is well on target for its 2045 carbon-neutral goal. It also plans to phase out all coal use by 2038 at the latest and possibly by 2030. Moreover, while the nuclear share of Germany’s electricity market in 2000 was around 30%, today it is less than 6%.
Recent slight increases in brown coal (lignite) production in Germany were not for domestic consumption but market driven and, ironically, to meet winter electricity needs in nuclear France, which saw more than half of its not-so-reliable nuclear power fleet go down. More information about why Germany’s Energiewende is working, can be found in the 5th edition of our Talking Points. (Headline photo: Jakob Huber/Wikimedia Commons)
Australia’s tallest wind turbines send first power to the grid — RenewEconomy
The 180MW Dulacca wind farm, featuring some of the tallest wind turbines ever installed in Australia, has officially sent its first power to the grid. The post Australia’s tallest wind turbines send first power to the grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia’s tallest wind turbines send first power to the grid — RenewEconomy
AGL juggles closure times as NSW waves goodbye to Australia’s oldest coal plant — RenewEconomy
NSW says it is focused on more renewables and storage as it waves goodbye to Liddell, and AGL juggles the closure dates of the next units. The post AGL juggles closure times as NSW waves goodbye to Australia’s oldest coal plant appeared first on RenewEconomy.
AGL juggles closure times as NSW waves goodbye to Australia’s oldest coal plant — RenewEconomy
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