The Power and Finance Week conference which takes place today, 28 Oct to 1 Nov in Bahrain will discuss the future of alternative fuels to include nuclear safety management and nuclear licensing. ESR Technology Group CEO David Weaver will present the overview. There are 114 active power generation projects of all types in the GCC countries worth a combined total of over $160bn.

Sharjah Investment Center announced that it has signed a contract of over half a billion dirhams with Darwish Engineering Emirates, for the infrastructure works of its 32 million square feet flagship project located near Sharjah International Airport, Hamriyah Free Zone.

Landmark Properties has announced in its recent participation to Bahrain's Property Arabia and the Worldwide Property Show 2007 that it will invest about BD120 million in various real estate projects, reported Bahrain Tribune. The company is currently developing the Marvida Tower and plans to launch another 22-storey property in Juffair with total number 96 units.

Astronauts swung open the door to their new space station addition Saturday and floated into the spacious and sparkling white room, formally christening it Harmony.

Even though it looked immaculate inside, international space station commander Peggy Whitson and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli — the first to enter — wore surgical masks and goggles to protect themselves from any dirty stowaways, like dust, lint or crumbs. The air inside the school bus-size chamber was immediately tested.

Harmony was named by schoolchildren in America but made in Italy, and Nespoli proudly noted that as he bobbed up and down in the 24-foot-long, 14-foot-diameter chamber that was delivered by shuttle Discovery.

"It's a pleasure to be here in this very beautiful piece of hardware," he said.

Germany's fractious coalition government has an issue both sides agree on -- the need to protect key industries, the country's crown jewels, from hostile foreign takeovers.

Several initiatives were floated last week that aimed to head off investors seen to be out only for their own interests, to the point where industrialists have warned against starting a protectionist backlash.

On Monday, leaders of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) approved a proposal aimed at shielding sectors essential to national security and "strategic infrastructure" from foreign investment funds.

The conservative party's plan was quickly hailed by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) as a step in the right direction.