Free Republic

Vehicles that run on batteries or hydrogen could take even longer to show up in America's showrooms under changes being considered by the state Air Resources Board. California air regulators on Thursday are scheduled to vote on a proposal that would reduce the number of zero-emission vehicles automakers must produce in California and 10 other states by 2014. The proposed reduction has drawn criticism from environmental and health advocates, California's top air regulator, former Secretary of State George Shultz and even a former director of the CIA. They question whether the state can afford to relax the rules on automakers...

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A year after the Paris riots violence and despair remain endemic in the rundown suburbsFLAMES lick around a burning car on a tiny telephone screen. Omar, 17, a veteran of France’s suburban riots, replayed the sequence with pride. “It was great. We did lots of them and then we went out and torched more the next day.” Omar, whose parents immigrated from Mali, was savouring memories of the revolt that erupted 12 months ago from his home, the Chêne Pointu estate in Clichy-sous-Bois, in the eastern outskirts of Paris. “We’re ready for it again. In fact it hasn’t stopped,” he...