Sources Energy

AFP - Toyota is facing a potential safety issue with its highest profile vehicle, the Prius, the latest in a plague of quality problems that forced it to recall four million vehicles in 2009.

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A regulatory panel’s conditional support for the Mackenzie gas pipeline in Canada’s Far North could kick-start plodding talks between Ottawa and the project’s backers over an expensive fiscal support package, a top Northwest Territories minister said on Thursday.

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A regulatory panel’s conditional support for the Mackenzie gas pipeline in Canada’s Far North could kick-start plodding talks between Ottawa and the project’s backers over an expensive fiscal support package, a top Northwest Territories minister said on Thursday.

Reuters - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has “serious reservations” about allowing shale gas drilling in New York City’s watershed, warning of a threat to the drinking water for 9 million people.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has “serious reservations” about allowing shale gas drilling in New York City’s watershed, warning of a threat to the drinking water for 9 million people.

UTStarcom (UTSI) has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to pay a $1.5 million fine for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and to pay another $1.5 million to settle related charges with the SEC.

The DOJ said the violations involved UTSI providing travel and other things of value to employees at state-owned telecom firms in China.

UTSI admitted that it arranged for Chinese telecom execs to visit tourist destinations in the U.S., including Hawaii, Las Vegas and New York City. The trips were purportedly for training purposes, but the company has no training facilities in those locations, and conducted no training.

In addition to the fine, UTSI is required to install rigorous internal controls and to cooperate with the DOJ.

You give the market lemons, it goes long lemonade.

Ergo, investors are in a mad scramble to find ways to bet on a renewed focus on airport security in the wake of the failed Christmas Day attack attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow-up an airplane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit. The names seem to shift from day-to-day; the hot-button stocks of the moment are ICx Technologies (ICXT), which makes explosive detectors for passenger screening, and Mace Security International (MACE), which sells security systems and “personal defense sprays,” i.e., Mace-brand pepper sprays.

Here’s a brief run-down on the security stocks getting a lift this week:

• ICXT: Up $1.18, or 13.8% to $9.71 today; up 95% for the week.
• MACE: Up 12 cents, or 11.5%, to $1.15 today; up up 29% for the week.
• Intellicheck Mobilisa (IDN), which now features recent TV interviews with its execs on its home page, makes gear for scanning ID; today is up $1.82, or 76.4%, to $4.21; for the stock, the shares are up 219%.
• Optelcom-NFK (OPTC), which makes surveillance systems, today is up 95 cents, or 41.9%, to $3.22; for the week, the stock is up 49.8%.
• OSI Systems (OSIS), which makes airport screening systems, among other things, is down 9 cents, to $27.37, today, but for the week is up 24.3%.
• American Science & Engineering (ASEI) today is down $2.92, or 3.7%, to $75.75; but for the week remains 5.6% higher; the company makes x-ray inspection systems.
• L-1 Identity Solutions (ID) today is up 48 cents, or 6.6% to $7.74; for the week, the stock is up 18%. The company makes “border management” systems, among other things.
• L-3 Communications (LLL), by far the largest market cap pure play in the sector, makes a range of homeland security products, including explosives detection systems. Down 73 cents today to $87.77; the stock for the week is up 2.4%.

AP - The office of Engineering Extension at South Dakota State University is offering a 10-hour safety and health course for the ethanol industry.

AFP - France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy enters the new year weakened in the polls while looking back at scandals, legislative setbacks and frustrated efforts to lead the fight against climate change.

AP - North Dakota regulators say the state’s wind power resources almost doubled in 2009.