US Farmers Sue AWB

Here's a story that will slip under the radar. American and Canadian wheat exporters plan to sue AWB over the Oil for Food scandal, to the tune of $1bn. It was these same farmers who were amongst the first to note the anomalies in AWB's transactions with Iraq, and to garner the support of the same members of Congress who later helped launched an enquiry into the Oil for Food programme.

Though arguments were made at the time that these powerful markets were simply attempting to carve out a larger slice of the world wheat market - and it can't be denied that there was a certain commercial impetus to their push - but it's still interesting to note that much of the allegations and evidence they provided was already in the public domain before the Australian government figured out there was a problem.