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Every adult should be forced to use a 'carbon ration card' when they pay for petrol, airline tickets or household energy, MPs say. The influential Environmental Audit Committee says a personal carbon trading scheme is the best and fairest way of cutting Britain's CO2 emissions without penalising the poor. Under the scheme, everyone would be given an annual carbon allowance to use when buying oil, gas, electricity and flights. Anyone who exceeds their entitlement would have to buy top-up credits from individuals who haven't used up their allowance. The amount paid would be driven by market forces and the deal...

Two million Darfur refugees face food ration cut as aid cash runs out By David Blair, Africa Correspondent (Filed: 29/04/2006) The suffering of at least two million refugees in Darfur worsened still further yesterday when the United Nations said their food rations will be halved. The UN's World Food Programme explained that a 50 per cent cut was necessary because donors had failed to provide enough money. Over two million refugees in Darfur depend on the WFP "This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made," said James Morris, director of the WFP. "Haven't the people of Darfur...

/begin my translationIndoor Green House for Surviving Cold Heating and Power is gone in ordinary households in Pyongyang. Under the circumstance, their best heating option is to install "indoor green house"(using plastic sheets) and live inside it. Pyongyang residents, surviving cold in an indoor green house In Pyongyang, many residences are multi-story buildings. As a result, most of them use central heating system. In provinces, each household has its own heating system, and different kinds are available. That is, they could use coal, brown coal, or firewood, to keep warm. However, in case of central heating, if power plant is...

Rummaging through a junk drawer the other day, I ran across a little government pamphlet that says on the back: "This book is valuable. Do not lose it." It is from the United States office of Price Administration and titled, "War Ration Book No. 3." Inside the book are four pages of 48 ration stamps each. Darned if I can remember exactly how these ration stamps were used -- I was just a kid during the Second World War. But, this book has my name on it, so I kept it. No reason. I just did. My childhood wasn't a...

... So much of today's contentious immigration debate focuses on those arriving from Latin America to work in agriculture or take low-level service jobs that Americans tend to spurn. But a new study by Stuart Anderson of the National Foundation for American Policy reminds us that the contributions of skilled foreign-born professionals and their offspring are no less important to the U.S. Without them the country would be hard pressed to maintain its world-wide advantage in such fields as math and science. The report, titled "The Multiplier Effect," will be released on Monday and available at www.nfap.net1. Here are some...