Australian windfarms face $13 billion wipeout from political impasse

File photo of low rain clouds passing over wind turbines operating near Tarago, north of Australia's capital, CanberraBy Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia faces a A$17 billion ($13.3 billion) exodus of investment from its windfarm industry because of a political deadlock, threatening to deal the country a major economic blow and kill hopes of meeting a self-imposed clean energy target. Some 44 Australian windfarm projects, about half overseas-funded, have been shelved since a new conservative government said it wanted to cut state support for the industry a year ago, with investors and operators saying they are considering either downscaling or leaving the country altogether if it succeeds. The parent company will provide us with the strategy." A Gas Natural spokesperson said the firm had an "attractive backlog" in Australia but "we are waiting for the whole development of the new framework for renewable energy and hope our presence … in the country can be maintained". Wind power in Australia is not the only renewable energy sector to be affected by uncertainty over government subsidies or actual cuts.

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Mexican cartel ‘Queen of the Pacific’ to be released from prison

Avila Beltran is watched over by members of the Ministerial Federal Police after her arrival at Benito Juarez International Airport in MexicoA jailed Mexican drug smuggler known as the "Queen of the Pacific" is to be released after partially completing a five-year sentence on money-laundering charges, the attorney general's office said on Saturday. A federal judge in Mexico's western Jalisco state accepted the appeal of Sandra Avila Beltran and ordered her immediate release, saying her five-year sentence was based on the same crime that triggered previous stints behind bars. Avila Beltran, the highest-profile woman linked to Mexico's drug trade, was expected to be set free later on Saturday, a federal security official said on condition of anonymity. Avila Beltran was sentenced to a nearly six-year prison term in the United States before being extradited to Mexico in 2013 to face money-laundering charges.

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