On Jan. 28, I told you that mining major Rio Tinto (RTP:NYSE) was in dire need of cash… It needs to pay an $8.9 billion bill by October 2009.

Well, RTP may have found its Knight in Shining Armor, and it’s not long-time rival BHP Billiton (BHP:NYSE). Rather, it’s state-owned Aluminum Corp. of China… or Chinalco. Chinalco already owns 9% of the company, but the two are in talks to buy about $20 billion in assets. Here’s how it would work, as reported by the International Herald Tribune…

“Aluminum Corp. of China, known as Chinalco, would buy bonds convertible into Rio Tinto stock and acquire up to half of some of Rio’s mines.”

The deal is expected to be announced as early as tomorrow, as RTP releases its full-year earnings.

Remember, RTP is looking to offset the massive investment it made in Canada’s Alcan. It went $39 billion in debt to do the deal, and $8.9 billion is due to be paid in October. With metals prices in the dumps, and the currenct economic situation, RTP is scrambling for cash.

Because Chinalco is state-owned, it’s got deeper pockets than many of its competitors. But that also means that if Chinalco acquires a big enough stake, China would - in effect - have “veto” power over any big decisions, like takeover bids.

Like the one BHP put in last November…

BHP has since dropped its bid because of the global financial crisis, but if it decides to renew its bid when metals prices begin climbing again, it might face some difficult opposition.

It wasn’t that long ago that nuclear energy was a pariah, politically and environmentally.

But with climate change and and energy crisis headlining our political campaigns and agendas, nuclear energy just might be back on the table… And not only here in the U.S., either.

France’s GDF Suez (GSZ:Paris), newly-formed energy group, and Spain’s Iberdrola (IBE:Madrid) just announced that they will join forces to build nuclear plants in the United Kingdom… As have German companies RWE (RWE:Hamburg) and E.ON (EOA:Hamburg).

But friendly European countries teaming up to build nuclear power plants isn’t the only card in play. Nuclear energy is on the table in Russia, China, and Iran.

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Today, hundreds of farmers took to the streets of the port of Pireaus, demanding government aid. This is the 13th day of protests, and Greece is having trouble all across the nation.

According to an International Herald Tribune article, “The clashes highlighted growing social unrest in Greece. The center-right government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis is struggling to restore its credibility after student riots in December.”

Greece isn’t the only European country experiencing riots…

Russia is seeing economic protests. And Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum is underway, also has it share of demonstrations. In France, hundreds of thousands of protestors demonstrated in the streets all across the nation.

The common denominator is the disgust at how citizens think their governments are handling the global economic crisis. Certain groups are pleading for financial aid, others want resignations. Neither will come quickly or easily.

So for some, like these Greek farmers, help may come too late. Farmers’ income has shrunk by nearly 24% in the past ten years, and now that commodity prices have fallen off a cliff, it’ll be even harder for farmers to gain any ground on the past.