What Have We Got For Biotech Billions? Taxpayers are footing the bill for private sector R&D.... Read Full Article On The Road: Test Driving An Air Taxi: Quiet, Quick But Not Cheap Light jets have major critics, but they are finding a niche among businesspeople for short trips of 300 to 400 miles.... Read Full Article World Briefing | Asia: Afghanistan: Gates Doubts Europeans? War Commitment Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates questioned the commitment of some NATO allies to winning in Afghanistan, saying the outcome there was at ?real risk.?... Read Full Article Thousands Flee, Homes Lost As Flames Return To Malibu For the second time in a month, fires sweep out of California’s Santa Monica Mountains to devastating effect.... Read Full Article World Briefing | Asia: Uzbekistan: Leader Nominated Again Delegates at a congress of the Liberal Democratic Party voted unanimously to nominate President Islam A. Karimov to run in the Dec. 23 presidential election, the Interfax news agency reported. He is c... Read Full Article |
Debates NewsSnippets of Debate Abounded Despite ABC’s Ground RulesRestrictions set up by ABC in the use of clips from Wednesday’s presidential candidate debates were mostly ignored by cable channels.Read Full Article In Babel of Tongues, Suriname Seeks ItselfThe tiny South American nation of Suriname periodically debates whether to change its official language from Dutch, and the place of its local tongue, Sranan Tongo, in its culture.Read Full Article Iraqi Parliament Debates Split of Power and MoneyThe Iraqi Parliament again deferred a vote on the budget but made progress toward approving a law that would outline provincial powers.Read Full Article Viewership of Debate Sets RecordCNN said Monday’s Democratic debate averaged 4.9 million viewers, easily exceeding all previous debates shown on cable.Read Full Article Race for nuclear Britain begins<br/>The race to a nuclear future began last night, as operators promised the first new power stations within a decade, and French and British companies vied for the contracts.<br/> <br/> Ministers ended years of uncertainty by declaring that nuclear power was “clean, secure and affordable”, but they declined to put a limit on the number of new stations nor the amount of electricity they could supply, prompting companies to set the battle lines for their share of the £36 billion construction programme.<br/> <br/> Boosted by government promises to help fast-track a fresh breed of reactors, Areva, the French energy company, rushed in with a bid to build six plants, with the first operational by the end of 2017. Four would be in partnership with another French company, EDF, and the other two with different partners. British Energy, the UK’s main generator, said it would announce one or two proposals in March. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, voiced an interest in a new plant and the German companies E.On and RWE, which own Powergen and nPower in Britain, are also likely to want to take part.<br/> <br/> John Hutton, the Business Secretary, who outlined the plans, said last night that all electricity generated in Britain should be produced without emitting any carbon by the middle of the century.<br/> <br/> The problems posed by climate change were so grave that the nation needed to eradicate all carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation, he said.<br/> <br/> The stations will almost certainly be built on or close to existing nuclear sites, where they have been accepted by local communities.<br/> <br/> With demand for power high in the South East and around London four sites - Sizewell, Bradwell, Hinkley and Dungeness – have already been identified as prime places for the new stations, with Wylfa in Anglesey, Hartlepool and Heysham next in line. The two Scottish sites at Hunterston and Torness would be obvious candidates but the ruling Scottish National Party in Scotland has threatened to block their development.<br/> <br/> All the stations will be built by the private sector but the Government has promised to streamline planning procedures to prevent protesters from delaying them unreasonably, and there will be a standard approved design so that individual local debates can be cut in time. The companies will be expected to pay decommissioning costs and their full share of the costs of managing waste.<br/> <br/> Mr Hutton insisted that there would be no subsidies, although he accepted that public funds would have to come forward in “very unlikely circumstances of an emergency at a nuclear plant”. He said: “If there is a catastrophic event then I think that it is right that the Government steps in.”<br/> <br/> That statement is viewed as a crucial guarantee for investors to ensure that developers will be able to obtain insurance for the industry in future. The Government rejected the argument that a permanent solution to the disposal of nuclear waste should be found before plants were approved.<br/> <br/> Existing “interim” storage facilities were adequate until a permanent underground site for the disposal of waste could be identified, Mr Hutton said. That is likely to be under the sea off Cumbria, or in an underground bunker.<br/> <br/> The Government did hint at the possibility of tax breaks to allay the huge costs of decommissioning. Yesterday’s White Paper said that the Treasury “was exploring action to ensure a level fiscal playing field between nuclear power and other forms of electricity generation”.<br/> <br/> Luc Oursel, the chief executive of Areva, said that his company was already in talks with 11 European utilities, including Centrica and British Energy, about building the new plants that would generate 15 per cent of Britain’s electrical capacity. “Our ambition is to build at least four, probably six, in the UK - the first by 2017 – and to provide these utilities with all the services and fuel necessary for their operations,” Mr Oursel said.<br/> <br/> The Royal Society called the announcement “an ambitious package, which should provide the means of meeting our energy needs, but much remains to be done to meet our greenhouse gas emission objectives. The Government has given a strong signal on key elements of the required energy mix such as nuclear power and the development of existing and new renewables.”<br/> <br/> Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, said: “New reactors are not the answer to UK energy problems and will do little to tackle climate change. We could meet our energy requirements by investing in cleaner, safer solutions such as renewables, combined heat and power, energy efficiency and the more efficient use of fossil fuels.”Read Full Article External News for: debatesAmerica's House of Lords Debates Health Care - New America MediaABC NewsAmerica's House of Lords Debates Health CareNew America MediaThe health care debate has been like a tennis match, bouncing from the Senate to the House and back again. Now it's back in the Senate, as the United States ...What to expect in Senate's Saturday health care voteCNN InternationalSen. Nelson Will Vote Yes on SaturdayABC NewsCritical health care reform vote Saturday, ugly gets uglierExaminer.comBillings Gazette -About - News & Issues (blog) -CNN Political Tickerall 5,152 news articles »America's House of Lords Debates Health Care - New America MediaABC NewsAmerica's House of Lords Debates Health CareNew America MediaThe health care debate has been like a tennis match, bouncing from the Senate to the House and back again. Now it's back in the Senate, as the United States ...What to expect in Senate's Saturday health care voteCNN InternationalSen. Nelson Will Vote Yes on SaturdayABC NewsCritical health care reform vote Saturday, ugly gets uglierExaminer.comBillings Gazette -About - News & Issues (blog) -CNN Political Tickerall 5,152 news articles »Urban debate contests sharpen learning, skills for college-bound students - Denver PostUrban debate contests sharpen learning, skills for college-bound studentsDenver PostBy Colleen O'Connor Members of Manual High School's debate team huddle before the Baker Hostetler Debate Classic on Friday at Thomas Jefferson High School. ...and more »America's House of Lords Debates Health Care - New America MediaABC NewsAmerica's House of Lords Debates Health CareNew America MediaThe health care debate has been like a tennis match, bouncing from the Senate to the House and back again. Now it's back in the Senate, as the United States ...What to expect in Senate's Saturday health care voteCNN InternationalSen. Nelson Will Vote Yes on SaturdayABC NewsCritical health care reform vote Saturday, ugly gets uglierExaminer.comBillings Gazette -About - News & Issues (blog) -CNN Political Tickerall 5,152 news articles »Urban debate contests sharpen learning, skills for college-bound students - Denver PostUrban debate contests sharpen learning, skills for college-bound studentsDenver PostBy Colleen O'Connor Members of Manual High School's debate team huddle before the Baker Hostetler Debate Classic on Friday at Thomas Jefferson High School. ...and more »Debate on prosecuting terror suspects - Our view: Unsettling choice for 9/11 ... - USA TodayDebate on prosecuting terror suspects - Our view: Unsettling choice for 9/11 ...USA TodayIt's fair to ask whether any other country would go through so much angst, so many debates, so much soul-searching to put on trial its most heinous enemies. ...and more » |
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