Free Republic

Chirac sinks deeper into mire of scandal By Philip Delves Broughton in Paris (Filed: 02/02/2004) President Jacques Chirac was fighting last night to regain control of a fast unravelling scandal encircling his political power base. M Chirac seized charge of an inquiry into alleged telephone taps, break-ins and violent threats against judges investigating Alain Juppe, the former prime minister and his heir apparent, convicted on Friday of organising illegal party funding. The extraordinary intervention came the day after the justice ministry announced it would investigate the allegations. His gazumping of his own ministry indicates the seriousness with which he is...

Shanghai sinks under its own success By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 07/10/2003) Shanghai authorities are to limit the rate at which some of the world's tallest buildings are being built after the sheer weight of the skyscrapers was found to be causing the city to sink into the sea. The newly revived city, the centre of China's booming economy, is already struggling to shrug off corruption scandals and power shortages associated with the pace of its development. Now it has been found to have subsided more than an inch last year alone, according to geologists. The average in recent...

Carbon Sinks Cannot Keep Up With Emissions DURHAM, North Carolina, May 16, 2002 (ENS) - Carbon absorption by natural ecosystems may no longer be able to keep up with manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a new study warns. The study, which appears in today's issue of the journal "Nature," suggests that natural carbon absorption into what are sometimes called "carbon sinks" is about to fall short of what is needed to counteract the rise in atmospheric CO2 due to fossil fuel burning and loss of forest. A study of the reaction of a Texas grassland to a range of...