theSun | TUESDAY MAY 26 2009
news without borders
by David Usborne
THE United States served notice yesterday
that it finally intends to take firm action to
combat the planet’s climate crisis, announc-
ing unprecedented plans to regulate vehicle
emissions from 2012 with exhaust standards
that match those sought for years by California
and a handful of other states.
Unveiling the new plan, surrounded by car
executives from the US, Japan and Europe,
President Barack Obama left no one in doubt
that he means to make good on his campaign
promises to drag his country out of years of
EPAPIX
lethargy and inaction on climate protection.
“The status quo is no longer acceptable,”
Obama declared, standing in the White House
rose garden. “We have done little to increase
the fuel efficiency of America’s cars and trucks
for decades. This is unprecedented change.”
The measures are the result of weeks of
behind-closed-doors negotiation. If success-
fully enacted, they will reshape a car industry
that is already trying to wean itself from its
past gas-guzzling instincts and promise to
make the American fleet 40% cleaner and
more fuel efficient than it is today.
Importantly, all sides have given their sup-
port to the package and will drop any related
lawsuits. Although the standards impose new
challenges on the car industry at a time of
great economic strain, having certainty about
what will be expected from it going forward
was enough to buy its support.
With so many officials and industry ex-
ecutives around him, Obama was clearly also
firing across the bows of Congress, where his
signature climate change bill that includes
provisions for a controversial cap-and-trade
system for industry emissions is likely to
face formidable opposition. “This is stagger-
ing,” said the governor of California Arnold
Schwarzenegger after hearing Obama speak.
“This president after 120 days in office has
taken the action and pulled everyone together.
We are ecstatic.”
The proposed programme would cover
the period 2012-2016 with the goal of achiev-
ing a standard of 35.5 miles per gallon across
the fleet. Officials said that this will save 1.8
billion barrels of oil, equivalent to taking 58
million cars off the road in the US for an entire
year. It would also instruct the Environmental
Protection Agency to regulate car exhaust
emissions for the first time.
Among those applauding the plan are en-
vironmental groups. “Few actions could have
briefs
Thousands evacuated as
cyclone hits east India
KOLKATA: A cyclone hit the eastern Indian state
of West Bengal yesterday, flooding villages and
forcing thousands of people from their homes,
officials said.
Authorities began evacuating thousands from
two coastal southern districts and warned people
living in state capital Kolkata to stay indoors, as
cyclone Aila advanced towards the biggest city in
the region, packing winds up to 100kph.
It was about 130km south of Sagar Island, the
world’s biggest riverine delta, and was expected
to hit Kolkata by late afternoon, authorities said.
“The situation is very grave, countless families
have been displaced, especially in the Sundar-
bans,” said Kanti Ganguly, West Bengal state
minister for the Sundarbans.
The region holds thousands of people as well
as the world’s biggest tiger reserve.
Heavy rains triggered by the cyclone raised
river levels and burst mud embankments in at
least three places in the Sundarbans Tiger Re-
serve, flooding homes.
At least 500 families have been displaced in
Sundarbans, and authorities said they were giving
shelter to thousands of people inside schools and
government buildings. – Reuters
Taiwan groom drinks too
much at wedding, dies
TAIPEI: A Taiwanese groom died on his wedding
day after having too much wine and beer to
drink, police and local media said yesterday.
The man, 35, an insurance company
worker surnamed Wu passed out at home
after drinking too much on Saturday at a
high-end restaurant in Taipei among more
than 100 wedding guests, the Liberty Times
Obama opens new front
in climate change battle
a more profound impact in the fight against
global warming,” commented Bill Becker,
leader of the National Association of Clean
Air Agencies. “After an initial phase-in, every
new vehicle sold in every state in the country
will be required to meet California’s clean-car
greenhouse gas standards.”
Officials conceded that the tough regula-
tions will add an average of US$600 (RM2,100)
to the cost of a new car but contended that the
savings in fuel purchases would cancel out
the extra cost within three years. “The fact is,
everyone wins,” the president insisted.
For years, California fought with the Bush
White House for the right to set its own stand-
ards for vehicle emissions. The proposals,
which were supported by other states includ-
reported. It was not known if he had health
complications.
“Everyone was having a great time,” said
restaurant party organiser Linda Chien. “We
don’t know what happened after that.”
Wu was hospitalised after his face turned
black, the paper said. – Reuters
Clinic lures nurses with free
boob jobs, tummy tucks
PRAGUE: An understaffed Prague clinic has
signed up nurses by offering boob jobs, liposuc-
tion and tummy tucks as a bonus.
Nurses, doctors and secretaries who sign up
with the small private clinic for three years can
choose their free plastic surgery.
“It has been a success,” Jiri Schweitzer, a
manager at the Iscare clinic, told AFP, adding the
establishment was now fully staffed and had to
reject dozens of beauty-hunting job applicants.
Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurese who
has been working at the clinic for four years, has
had a breast implant – the most popular choice
among nurses – so she underwent liposuction
for her signing on perk. “I have mentioned this
to colleagues and friends, and the interest in
working here is huge,” she added.
The clinic charges up to 75,000 koruna
(RM13,832) for a breast implant, almost three
times the average nurse’s monthly wage, and
up to €1,880 for liposuction. – AFP
French farmers block 81
dairies in milk protest
PARIS: Protesting French farmers blockaded
81 dairies around the country yesterday as
producers from 10 European countries dem-
onstrated in Brussels against low wholesale
milk prices, officials said.
According to the FNSEA union, some
12,000 dairy farmers were involved in the
action, which halted work at around 81 sites
across France. “That’s 4,000 more protesters
than last week,” a labour spokesman said.
France has around 150,000 dairy farmers
and more than 3,000 dairies.
ing New York, New Jersey and Massachu-
setts, triggered lawsuits from the car industry
in Detroit, and the Bush administration was
consistent in opposing California’s initiatives.
As part of this new deal, the state has agreed
in advance to defer to Washington henceforth
on emissions standards.
Climate change is one of many priorities
for the new president and will have to com-
pete with healthcare reform for his attention.
He knows that his green agenda may be
in particular peril on Capitol Hill because
opinion polls continue to show that tackling
global warming and energy wastage is one of
the lowest priorities for an American public
that is far more concerned with a return to
economic prosperity. – The Independent
“Nothing is going in and nothing’s com-
ing out,” declared Joel Limouzin, a farmers’
leader in the Loire Valley.
Some 900 farmers, according to police,
marched in the streets of Brussels ahead
of a meeting by European Union agriculture
ministers to discuss the crisis in the country.
– AFP
13
Pressure mounts
on Irish orders
to pay more
compensation
DUBLIN: The Archbishop of Dublin
called yesterday for Irish religious
orders to do more for people
who were raped and beaten in
Catholic-run schools, raising the
pressure on the orders to pay
more compensation.
Diarmuid Martin is the most
senior church figure to lean on
the religious congregations after
the publication last week of a har-
rowing report into endemic abuse
at the reform institutions they ran
on behalf of the state between
the 1930s and the 1970s.
The 18 orders, including the
Christian Brothers and the Sisters
of Mercy, have refused calls to
reopen a 2002 deal with the Irish
government, which capped their
contribution to a redress scheme
for thousands of victims at €127
million (RM622.3 million).
The total compensation bill is
expected to top €1 billion (RM4.9
billion).
“The fact that the mechanisms
of fulfilling your side of that agree-
ment have not yet been brought
to completion is stunning,” Martin
wrote in an opinion piece in The
Irish Times.
Activists try
“Whatever happens with re-
to force their
gard to renegotiating that agree-
way through
ment, you cannot just leave things
police
as they are.
barricades
“There are many ways in which
and into
substantial financial investment
the World
in supporting survivors and their
Business
families can be brought about,
Summit
perhaps in creative ways which
on Climate
would once again redeem your
Change in
own charisma as educators of the
Copenhagen,
poor.”
Denmark on
Martin also warned that there
Sunday.
would be more shocks in store
when a separate report into the
sexual abuse of children in his
diocese will be published later
this year.
Sex abuse scandals have
rocked the Catholic Church
around the world. In 2007, the Ro-
man Catholic archdiocese of Los
Angeles agreed to pay US$660
million (RM2.31 billion) to 500 vic-
tims in the largest compensation
of its kind. – Reuters