| German carmakers lead in reducing CO2 emissions
BMW AG, Volkswagen AG and other German carmakers cut carbon-dioxide emissions more than European rivals last year as they struggle to reach planned European Union targets. German brands sold domestically had 2 percent lower CO2 output last year, a greater reduction than French and Japanese models sold in Europe's largest economy, said Matthias Wissmann, president of the VDA German automobile manufacturers' association, at a briefing today in Berlin. The European Union plans a cap on carmakers that will force them to reduce CO2 emissions, a gas linked with global warming. The draft proposal, which is being negotiated this year among European lawmakers, will reduce the carbon emissions to an average 130 grams per kilometer (0.6 mile) for a manufacturer's fleet by 2012, with an additional 10 grams coming from improvements in tires, air conditioning and other vehicle parts.
Exploring Turkishness
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is given yearly to an American fiction writer. The 2006 award went to an author who spent quite a bit of time as a journalist in the Middle East, based in Cairo. Geraldine Brooks wrote Nine Parts of Desire, a book of non-fiction, which tells the stories of women around the Middle East and Foreign Correspondence detailing her experiences searching for her childhood pen pals around the world. A versatile writer, Brooks has since switched her focus from journalism to historically based fiction. She was awarded the Pulitzer for her novel March, which is set in the Civil War-era United States. March is about an army chaplain, whose character is based on the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. After leaving his family to do what he feels will be the right thing, fighting the good fight against the Confederacy, the idealistic character March becomes severely shaken and the moral dilemmas he faces begin to affect his ideals and his marriage.
For Carmakers, High Performance Equals High Profit
In March, Lexus is launching a high-performance division. Called the F—for "Flagship"—the first model will be the sporty, $56,765 Lexus IS F. Several more F models are in the pipeline, including a luxury sedan and an SUV-wagon crossover. This represents a radical departure for Lexus, which has enjoyed enormous success as Toyota's (TM) luxury brand, despite being often faulted by driving enthusiasts for making cars that are unexciting, albeit attractive, well-built, and competitively priced. Now obviously Toyota's top brass wants to change this impression—and that is something that should concern executives at the high-performance divisions of its luxury rivals, specifically Mercedes-Benz (DAI), BMW (BMWG), and, increasingly, Audi (NSUG). Mercedes offers an AMG version of nearly every model it sells, including light trucks.
Gizmo geeks find nirvana
It's here that the latest in bleeding-edge technology, gadgets and software gets its public coming-out party, spread across a mind-blowing 167,000 sq. metres of exhibit space in two massive convention centres. And what a party it is. Seeing everything that's on display at CES is nigh-on impossible, even over the show's four days. Still, we got to witness some pretty cool stuff before CES wrapped up yesterday, and it's too much to cram into just one gadgets page. So here's Part One of our roundup of some of the niftiest, craziest and otherwise memorable technology straight outta Vegas. Extracurricular activities not included. --- MICROSOFT SURFACE This wasn't the first time Microsoft's upcoming tabletop display technology was shown to the public, but it was definitely the first time we saw just how amazing Surface might be when it starts to arrive this year in hotels, retail stores and the like.
The Listening Cure
Audrey Reid, a 36-year-old from Dundee, Scotland, says medication slowed her thinking and rendered her powerless against bullying by her voices. They made sexually demeaning comments and, when she tried to make coffee, convinced her she was brewing poison. But their effect is not always destructive, and HVN encourages its members to form relationships with them. Reid says four of her seven voices calm her down during stressful situations, help her assess people she meets, and remind her what to buy at the grocery store. One which she regards as that of herself as a child even helped her successfully confront another, which she says mimics a man who molested her when she was 8 years old. "I'm not a confrontational person, so I needed her there," she says, noting that while the abuser's voice still occasionally criticizes her, for the most part "he's been put in his place." Voice hearers must navigate a society that often views them as freaks and potential criminals: Bullimore says he's been spat upon, called a "psycho" and had his face slashed with a broken vase by people who know of his condition.
Buying building brings added prosperity to successful machining ...
U.S. businesses are finding themselves increasingly thrust into a global economy. The advent of the internet and advancements in transportation technologies have helped to effectively eliminate national borders and shrink the world down to a smaller size. Small businesses are no exception to this rule. .
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