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Back in the day, just about everything that used a battery had a hatch or a hutch that you could open to pull it out and replace it if need be. Whether it was a radio, a cordless phone, or a cellphone, it was a cinch to swap out a battery. These days, many devices hide their batteries, deep beneath tamper-proof stickers and warnings that state there are “no user serviceable components inside.” The EU wants to change all that, though, and has voted to mandate that everything from cellphones to e-bikes must have easily replaceable batteries, with the legislation...

HUNTSVILLE, Canada (AFP) – The drive for a punitive global tax on the world's largest banks ran into the sand Saturday with key G8 and G20 nations dismissing the European plan as unwarranted. A last-gasp European push for the levy failed as a raft of developed and developing countries -- led by G20 hosts Canada -- rejected one-size-fits-all rules. Britain, France and Germany had argued the tax would curb the type of excessive financial risk-taking that pushed the global economy to the brink, and help build a nest egg for future crises. But the idea came up against fierce opposition...

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20020304/spacesuit.html NASA Drops Women's Spacesuit Plans By Irene Brown, Discovery News March 8 #151; For five days now, veteran astronaut Nancy Currie has diligently driven around her spacewalking crewmates as they worked on the Hubble Space Telescope while anchored to a platform on the shuttle's robot arm. She's not complaining, but Currie, who also operated the crane for the first International Space Station construction mission certainly could be forgiven a case of spacewalk envy. The 5-foot-tall, 110-pound helicopter pilot doesn't even have a chance at an orbital outing because NASA has no suit to fit her. The agency suspended plans...