news.notes20090519a

[Biography of the Day] from [Britannica]

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Malcolm X
Black militant Malcolm X, born this day in 1925, promoted black pride and, later, racial unity, ideas articulated in his celebrated The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which was published shortly after his assassination in 1965.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
1884: Ringling brothers' circus formed
The Ringling brothers opened a small circus in Baraboo, Wisconsin, on this day in 1884 and by the early 20th century had transformed it into the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the leading American circus.


[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
H1N1 flu surges in Kansai
All Osaka, Hyogo schools close; public urged to be vigilant but calm

By ERIC JOHNSTON
Staff writer

KOBE — The number of domestic swine flu cases reached 140 in Hyogo and Osaka as of Monday evening, prompting fears of an epidemic and leading to calls from the two governors to shut down all schools in the prefectures and for the central government to do more.

Including the four cases confirmed early this month, in which three high school students and a teacher returned from Canada to Narita airport with the H1N1 virus, a total of 144 people have so far been infected with the new flu.

In Tokyo, the government urged the public to stay calm, saying it is doing everything in its power to prevent a further spread of the H1N1 virus.

"We would like to ask people to be on guard but at the same time continue to react calmly," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said. "The government will take all possible measures to completely secure the safety of the public and swiftly dispatch accurate information."

But local officials warned more confirmed cases were likely to follow throughout this week, while health experts continued efforts to discover how the potentially deadly virus infected people who had not been abroad and why the vast majority of cases so far are high school students.

All elementary, junior high and high schools in Hyogo and Osaka prefectures have been ordered closed for a week while health checks are conducted and students suspected of having contracted the virus are monitored.

Many private educational facilities in Hyogo Prefecture, including universities and technical colleges, have voluntarily canceled classes.

The closure of nursery schools was hitting working mothers hard, Kobe officials said, with many searching for friends and relatives to watch over their children.

At Sannomiya Station, Kobe's railway hub, there was concern but not panic Monday morning as the vast majority of commuters were seen wearing protective masks.

Coffee shops and restaurants had fewer customers than usual, but supermarkets and convenience stores were busy with customers purchasing food and supplies in case they are forced to stay indoors.

"In some ways, it's similar to what happened after the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, when there were also fears of an influenza outbreak," said Toshio Kotera, 31, a Kobe resident who works near the station.

"Like then, everybody is now making emergency preparations in case they get sick or have to be quarantined."

Kobe residents were especially nervous about the news that a 50-year-old woman working at a kiosk in Sannomiya Station had contracted the virus.

West Japan Railway Co. shut down its kiosks at the station. A female employee in her 20s at Mitsubishi UFJ Bank's Sannomiya branch also contracted the virus and the bank responded by asking its staff at the branch to remain at home.

At Osaka's railway hub of Umeda Station, there were far more people wearing masks than Sunday, but businesses remained open and concern was minimal. In front of the Osaka Municipal Government office in Kita Ward, a Japanese Red Cross blood donation drive was taking place, with only a sign asking donors to spray their hands with disinfectant before giving blood.

But Hyogo Gov. Toshizo Ido and Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto, who were in Tokyo to attend a meeting of governors, told reporters that the situation is rapidly turning into an epidemic and that their prefectures are limited in what they can do.

"The situation is getting close to epidemic proportions and we need the central government's help," Ido told health minister Yoichi Masuzoe.

"The health minister has all of the authority and responsibility and has to get the central government to move. In this kind of a situation, we'll follow what the health ministry says," Hashimoto told a morning news conference in Osaka, where he issued an epidemic warning despite being urged by some officials that it was too early to do so.

Hyogo Prefecture announced a number of measures it was taking to deal with the spread, including assistance for purchasing medical kits to check for fever, and financial support for commuting to and from local fever centers.

Support for the local tourism industry, where hotels and other facilities are facing cancellations, especially by school groups from around the country, will also be offered, according to Hyogo officials.

Osaka officials said hundreds of people had called the prefectural flu hotline Monday.

In Kobe, health officials worried about patients overwhelming local medical facilities have asked that only those with high fevers go to hospitals and that all others call local fever consultation centers first.

Later Monday, signs of a further spread of domestic infections were seen beyond Osaka and Hyogo.

In nearby Nara Prefecture, more than 1,000 junior and high school students in the prefecture were absent from school Monday complaining of illnesses, although links to the H1N1 virus were unclear, officials said.

During a meeting to discuss how to handle the spreading virus, Nara officials learned that 1,117 students, including 453 junior high school students, 646 high school students, and 18 students at special schools, were absent Monday. Several teachers were reportedly sick as well.

The officials said the students will be checked for the H1N1 virus, but the results are likely to take a couple of days.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
MOX fuel arrives in Japan

(Kyodo News) Two cargo ships carrying recycled nuclear fuel arrived Monday in Japan from France for the planned introduction of plutonium-thermal power generation in the fall, power company officials said.

One of the two armed ships entered a port near Chubu Electric Power Co.'s Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, the first stop for the delivery of plutonium and uranium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel.

The ships will also deliver the fuel, a combination of uranium and plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel, to Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture and Shikoku Electric Power Co.'s Ikata plant in Ehime Prefecture.

The fuel was manufactured in France on an order placed by the three utilities and will be used in conventional uranium-burning light-water reactors.

The Pacific Pintail and Pacific Heron left the northern French port of Cherbourg in early March and reached Japan after sailing through the southwestern Pacific via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

The Pacific Heron was escorted by Japan Coast Guard ships and helicopters as it entered the port of Omaezaki.

Antinuclear groups staged demonstrations against the pluthermal power generation plan, shouting, "No transport of dangerous MOX fuel." Pluthermal is a Japanese word combining the English words plutonium and thermal.

Critics point to the potential dangers of MOX fuel, warning that use of fuel containing plutonium exposes residents to greater health risks in the event of serious accidents.

Kyushu Electric plans to put MOX fuel into the No. 3 reactor of the Genkai plant at the time of the next regular inspection in August.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Keidanren panned over climate plan

By JUN HONGO
Staff writer

Climate conservation proposals by big business in Japan are out of step with international efforts to curb global warming, Danish Minister for Climate and Energy Connie Hedegaard said Monday in Tokyo.

The government has come up with six numerical targets for 2020 on cutting the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, ranging from a 4 percent increase to a 25 percent decrease from 1990 levels. Tokyo is expected to officially announce the midterm targets next month.

"The cheap way out will be an expensive solution later," Hedegaard said at the Japan National Press Club, referring to the 4 percent increase goal endorsed by the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren).

That plan "is not possible in the world of the 21st century," she said.

Speaking ahead of the U.N. environment summit in December in Copenhagen, Hedegaard stressed that Japan must come up with an ambitious target that would motivate other countries to reduce their carbon emissions. Tokyo's actions can pressure Beijing into enhancing their efforts to fight global warming, she said.

The meeting in December is scheduled to conclude the talks on a framework that would succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Japan has no excuse to "lean back" because of its world-leading energy efficiency, Hedegaard said, but instead must make a positive push by proposing a substantial reduction target.

news.notes20090519b

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[BUSINESS NEWS]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Toyota debuts new Prius hybrid

By HIROKO NAKATA
Staff writer

Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday launched its much-awaited new Prius gasoline-electric hybrid to face off against rival Honda Motor Co.'s Insight hybrid released in February.

Officially priced, as expected, at 2.05 million, the new Prius has already sparked a flurry of buy orders. The previous model, equipped with a less powerful engine, carried a 2.33 million price tag.

Despite the economic slump, Toyota said it has received orders for more than 80,000 units, compared with the 18,000 orders Honda received for the Insight in its first month.

Toyota's strategy to slash the price of the remodeled third-generation Prius is paying off, experts say, noting the sticker price is now closer to the Insight's, which grabbed consumer attention with a price of 1.89 million.

"We will provide what is good for society and the people at a price that many customers feel like paying," Akio Toyoda, the incoming Toyota president, told a news conference at the company's Mega Web showroom in Koto Ward, Tokyo.

Toyoda, grandson of the automaker's founder, is currently an executive vice president.

"I want more people to feel comfortable buying a Prius," he said, adding that all of Toyota's 4,900 outlets nationwide will sell the new Prius and provide followup service.

The Prius will soon debut in more than 80 countries, including in North America and other parts of Asia later this month, Europe in June, and Central and South America, Africa, Oceania and the Middle East in July. Toyoda said the company expects sales of 500,000 to 600,000 units of all its hybrid models for the year.

So far, 1.25 million units of the first two Prius models have been sold in more than 40 countries since 1997.

The car giant also announced Monday it will lower the price of the older Prius to 1.89 million, the same as the standard Insight model, mainly targeting corporate clients.

Competition between the Prius and Insight is the only bright spot amid the global consumption slump and the crisis facing U.S. rivals General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

New tax incentives introduced in April to further promote eco-friendly vehicles are adding fuel to the sales. The new and existing incentives lower the taxes by 164,000 to 216,000 for the new Prius, Toyota said.


[BUSINESS NEWS]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
U.S. makers take cue from Toyota in cutting dealers

By KATIE MERX and KEITH NAUGHTON

(Bloomberg) General Motors and Chrysler, borrowing from Toyota's playbook, are betting they can sell more cars with fewer dealerships.

Plans announced last week to shed almost 2,000 retail outlets are designed to bolster the survivors, GM and Chrysler said. Reducing competition from stores with the same brands is supposed to allow the remainder to boost prices and profit, and to reinvest in their businesses to keep adding customers.

That echoes the strategy of Toyota in growing to second behind GM in U.S. market share. U.S. outlets for Toyota and Honda Motor Co. each averaged more than 1,100 sales in 2008, almost three times as many as GM's and Chrysler's, consulting firm Grant Thornton found.

"There's the school of thought that if they want to emulate the success of brands like Toyota and Honda they should emulate their dealer structure," said Jack Nerad, an analyst for car-pricing company Kelley Blue Book in California. "That certainly seems to be the view of the automotive task force."

Nerad was referring to U.S. President Barack Obama's car task force, which steered Chrysler into bankruptcy April 30 and set a June 1 deadline for GM to finish restructuring outside of court. The panel said it wasn't involved in the dealer cuts.

GM is paring domestic dealers to a range of 3,600 to 4,000 from 5,969 by the end of 2010. On May 15, it notified about 1,130 retailers that their franchise accords won't be renewed, meaning they would stop selling cars in a year and won't be able to order new inventory. A day earlier, Chrysler told 789 outlets they would stop selling cars by June 9.

Dumping dealers isn't part of the cuts in costs and debt at GM and Chrysler. Instead, "underperforming" stores, as GM put it, were targeted to ensure the automakers' future retail networks will be stronger for when the companies reorganize.

GM's U.S. dealers sold 2.9 million vehicles in 2008, while the total for Chrysler's 3,188 stores was 1.5 million. Toyota had 2.2 million sales at 1,459 U.S. dealers.

"The strategy at Toyota is pretty simple: keep the dealer count rational, don't locate them too close to each other and maximize their units per outlet," said Mike Michels, a company spokesman in California. "A profitable dealer can invest in their dealership and personnel."

Average new-auto revenue was $14.3 million for GM dealers and $12.8 million for Chrysler last year, compared with $40.9 million for Toyota, based on data from auto-research company Edmunds.com.

Dealers also make money on used vehicles, parts and service.

Each GM store averaged 444 new-auto sales, while Chrysler had 405, according to consulting firm Grant Thornton. Ford was similar, at 483. Japan's three biggest automakers dwarfed those totals, with 1,200 for Toyota, 1,150 for Honda and 764 for Nissan, Grant Thornton found.

Shrinking GM's dealer ranks to about 3,600 would push the automaker's retailers to an annual average of 750 sales, said Paul Melville, a Grant Thornton auto-retailing analyst in Michigan.

"It's heading in the right direction, but it's still only 65 percent of where Toyota is," Melville said. "They'll still have a lot of low-volume stores."

Mark LaNeve, GM's North American sales chief, said the dealer cuts are needed to match the shrinkage in the company and in the U.S. auto market. GM plans to dispose of Hummer, Saturn and Saab and will end the Pontiac brand to focus on Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC vehicles.

"Too many dealers, in actuality, is not the problem," LaNeve said Friday. "We've got too little industry and too little sales we have to contend with."

Chrysler President Jim Press said Thursday that "a powerful new dealer body" would be a pivotal part of the automaker's restructuring, which includes an alliance with Italy's Fiat SpA.

GM and Chrysler may never match per-store sales with Toyota or Honda because the U.S. automakers have more dealers in rural areas, where profitable pickups are top sellers. Toyota's dealer network is concentrated in urban and suburban areas.

That means the focus must be on cutting overlapping stores in urban areas, where dealers tend to compete with each other by cutting prices rather than winning business from other automakers, said Melville, the Grant Thornton analyst.

Among those stung by the practice is Gordon Stewart, who owns a Toyota dealership in Alabama and Chevrolet outlets in Georgia, Florida and Michigan. His Michigan Chevrolet store competes with 45 others for the brand in metropolitan Detroit.

Price wars drain much of GM dealers' profits, leaving little money left to market autos to new buyers, said Stewart, who wasn't on GM's cuts list last week and backs the efforts to thin the dealers' ranks.

"Imagine how much money we could spend advertising if we had the whole market area to ourselves," Stewart said. "Right now, you've got so many weak dealers in the market area that nobody can afford to promote."


[BUSINESS NEWS]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Average monthly overtime at manufacturers sank 18.7% in '08; wages also fell

(Kyodo News) Average monthly overtime hours worked per capita among manufacturers declined 18.7 percent in fiscal 2008 from the previous year, down for the first time in seven years and posting the largest drop in 16 years, the government said Monday.

Average monthly overtime hours worked, a key gauge of economic outlook, came to 13.4 hours for manufacturers in the year ended March 31, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.

Average monthly overtime hours shrank from the previous year due to the economic downturn, a ministry official said.

Average monthly wages at companies in all sectors slipped 1.1 percent to 328,990 for the second consecutive yearly fall, due mainly to a sharp drop in nonregular wages such as overtime pay.

Average monthly regular pay, such as basic salary, stood at 249,976, down 0.4 percent.

Inflation-adjusted real average monthly wages dropped 2.3 percent for the third straight year of decline, the ministry said.

news.notes20090519c

[Today's Paper] from [Los Angeles Times]

Auto emissions deal a win for California
The state is the model for a compromise with U.S. carmakers and the federal government to curb greenhouse gases.

By Jim Tankersley and Richard Simon
May 19, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- The agreement that the Obama administration will announce today forcing dramatic reductions in vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in auto mileage marks a potentially pivotal shift in the battle over global warming -- and a vindication of California's long battle to toughen standards.

After decades of political sparring, legal challenges and scientific arguments over climate change, three of the central players -- the federal government, major U.S. automakers and California -- have found that the time has come to suspend hostilities and make a deal.

For cars and trucks, the agreement would establish a single nationwide standard that would require a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide and other emissions from vehicles sold in the United States by 2016.

The new limits are projected to reduce U.S. oil consumption by about 5% a year. The nation currently uses about 7.1 billion barrels a year.

For its part, California will essentially accept the national standard as a substitute for the state's own tough emission requirements. The Obama standard is designed to achieve the same level of emission cutbacks as the California rule, but automakers will be given more time to adapt.

Completing the three-way deal, automakers will pledge to drop their effort to block the California rules through legal challenges.

"Everybody wins," said David Doniger, policy director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate center. "It's going to cut carbon pollution. The drivers of these cars are going to save money at the pump. It's going to cut our national oil dependence."

During the Bush administration, California unsuccessfully sought federal permission to tighten its vehicle emission standards. The Obama administration had ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reexamine the issue.

Not everyone hailed the agreement Monday. "We think these new mandatory fuel standards are most unfortunate," said Myron Ebell, an energy expert with the pro-market Competitive Enterprise Institute. "They will price people out of larger vehicles and force them into smaller vehicles."

But in embracing a deal, the major parties appear to have concluded that some kind of action on greenhouses gases was inevitable and that their separate interests were better served by compromising now than by further delay. President Obama will announce the deal in Washington, joined by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others.

A White House official, briefing reporters Monday on condition of anonymity, said the agreement would push new vehicles sold in the U.S. to average 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016, up from 25 mpg today. The agreement, coupled with increased fuel-efficiency requirements that Congress approved in 2007, would add $1,300 to the price of a new car in 2016, the administration estimated.

Neither the Obama plan nor the rules California has sought to impose include explicit mileage requirements. But capping the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for global warming would effectively require better mileage.

In 2002, California passed a law to reduce vehicle emissions, but auto industry lawsuits held up its enforcement. The state also needed a waiver from the EPA, which refused -- even after a series of court rulings in the state's favor.

Bush administration officials said they wanted a single nationwide standard that would unite the greenhouse gas regulations and tougher fuel economy standards that Congress approved in 2007.

Officials cast such standards as a key to encouraging the design and sale of the fuel-sipping cars that Obama calls vital to the Detroit automakers' recovery -- and crucial to the international fight against global warming.

Detroit has never liked the idea of government telling it what kind of cars to build, but its power to head off tougher emission standards was undercut by a series of events that decreased its political influence -- including the financial troubles of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, which made the companies more open to government demands for fuel-efficient vehicles, especially after they needed federal money to stay afloat.

In addition, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), a powerful ally of the auto industry, was ousted as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and replaced by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), an advocate of tougher standards. And during last year's presidential campaign, both Obama and Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona backed California's efforts.

Obama's EPA also issued a draft ruling last month declaring greenhouse gases a danger to public health, subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. The proposal singles out cars and trucks, which comprise about one quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPA began public hearings on the proposal Monday.

Assuming the reductions come to pass, a trip to a dealership in 2016 might prove remarkably different than one today. Rows of SUVs and full-sized luxury cars could be replaced by highly efficient compact sedans powered by hybrid drive trains, small SUVs running on clean diesel motors and possibly electric cars that emit no greenhouse gases.

Jeff Holmstead, a senior EPA official under President Bush, said he saw the deal as a vindication of the Bush administration's approach.

"It looks like the Obama administration is agreeing with the Bush administration that there needs to be a national standard and that it doesn't make any sense to have multiple state standards," Holmstead said.

But Capitol Hill Democrats welcomed the deal. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), an author of the House energy bill who also co-wrote the 2007 bill increasing fuel economy standards, said, "President Obama has solved the energy and economic policy equivalent of a Rubik's Cube."

news.notes20090519d

[Today's Paper] from [The New York Times]

Obama to Toughen Rules on Emissions and Mileage

By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: May 18, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Obama will announce tough new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and mileage standards on Tuesday, embracing standards that California has sought to enact for years over the objections of the auto industry and the Bush administration.

The rules, which will begin to take effect in 2012, will put in place a federal standard for fuel efficiency that is as tough as the California program, while imposing the first-ever limits on climate-altering gases from cars and trucks.

The effect will be a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016 than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon.

Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, but for different reasons. Environmentalists called it a long-overdue tightening of emissions and fuel economy standards after decades of government delay and industry opposition. Auto industry officials said it would provide the single national efficiency standard they have long desired, a reasonable timetable to meet it and the certainty they need to proceed with product development plans.

Yet the industry position represents an abrupt about-face after years of battling tougher mileage standards in the courts and in Congress, reflecting the change in the political climate and the automakers’ shaky financial condition. The decision comes as General Motors and Chrysler are receiving billions of dollars in federal help, closing hundreds of dealerships and trying to design the products and business strategy they will need to survive.

“For seven long years, there has been a debate over whether states or the federal government should regulate autos,” said Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, the industry’s largest trade association. “President Obama’s announcement ends that old debate by starting a federal rulemaking to set a national program.”

Mr. McCurdy, a former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma, has been working with Mr. Obama and his advisers on the issue since early this year.

In announcing the new program at the White House, Mr. Obama will be accompanied by Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, along with auto industry executives and environmental leaders.

The administration’s decision resolves a question over California’s application for a waiver from federal clean air laws to impose its own, tougher vehicle emissions standards. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have said they plan to adopt the California program.

The new national fleet mileage rule for cars and light trucks of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 roughly corresponds to the California requirement, which will be shelved as a result. The current national standard is slightly more than 25 miles per gallon.

The California plan, first proposed in 2002, had been stalled by industry lawsuits and the Bush administration’s refusal to grant a waiver from less stringent federal rules, although California has been given dozens of such exemptions over the last 40 years.

The program will also end a number of lawsuits over the California standards, officials said.

“This is a very big deal,” said Daniel Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, who has pushed for tougher mileage and emissions standards for two decades with the goal of curbing the gases that have been linked to global warming. “This is the single biggest step the American government has ever taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”

The administration had faced a June 30 deadline set by Congress to decide whether to grant California’s application to put its emissions rules into effect. President Obama became personally involved in the issue because he was also trying to find a way to rescue American auto companies from their financial crisis.

One ranking industry official said that the administration wanted to get the new mileage rules in place before General Motors made a decision on a bankruptcy filing, which could happen by the end of this month. The new rules also provide some certainty for Chrysler, which is already under bankruptcy protection, so that it can plan its future models.

To meet the new federal standards, auto companies will have to drastically change their product lineups in a relatively short time.

The companies have declined so far to comment on the costs involved in meeting a fleet standard of 35 miles a gallon. For starters, the automakers will probably have to sharply reduce the number of low-mileage models, like pickup trucks and large sedans.

The president’s decision will also accelerate the development of smaller cars and engines already under way.

But Mr. McCurdy said the industry could meet the new mileage targets using existing technology and improvements in future models. He said that 130 models already got 30 miles a gallon or better on the highway.

In January, Mr. Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. He also instructed the Transportation Department to draw up rules to complement a 2007 law requiring a 40 percent improvement in mileage for autos and light trucks by 2020. The Bush administration wrote no regulations to enforce the 2007 law.

Mr. Obama will direct the E.P.A. and the Transportation Department to jointly write enforcement regulations.

Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy at the liberal Center for American Progress, said that under the White House plan, California would retain the ability to set its own emissions standards in the future when the current program expired.

He also said the new administration program was very close in language and intent to a provision in the climate change and energy bill now before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That bill calls for a “harmonization” of the California and federal regulatory programs to provide a nationwide standard.

Mr. Obama has been thinking about the future of the American automobile industry for years. He co-sponsored two bills in 2006, during his second year as a United States senator, one to raise fuel economy standards and the other to encourage the use of alternative fuels.

During the presidential campaign, he gave a speech in Detroit chastising the American automobile industry for doing too little to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and improve their vehicles’ efficiency.

“The auto industry’s refusal to act for so long has left it mired in a predicament for which there is no easy way out,” Mr. Obama said.

That inaction has been a factor in the current dire state in which General Motors and Chrysler find themselves. The Japanese automakers are far ahead in developing smaller, more efficient vehicles, although they, too, will have to adjust their product lines.

Fran Pavley, the California state senator who sponsored the legislation that established the California standard, praised the decision as she traveled to Washington Monday to join the White House meeting on Tuesday.

She said through a spokeswoman that California would work on its own rules while the federal regulations were drafted. “This cleans up our air, reduces our dependence on foreign oil and continues to allow California to lead the way,” she said.

news.notes20090519e

[Today's Newspaper] fom [The Washington Post]

Vehicle Emission Rules to Tighten
U.S. Would Also Raise Fuel Mileage Standards by 2016

By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Obama administration today plans to propose tough standards for tailpipe emissions from new automobiles, establishing the first nationwide regulation for greenhouse gases.

It will also raise fuel efficiency targets to 35.5 miles per gallon for new passenger vehicles and light trucks by 2016, four years earlier than required under the 2007 energy bill, sources close to the administration said.

The measures are significant steps forward for the administration's energy agenda by cutting greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to climate change and by easing U.S. dependence on oil, most of which is imported.

The administration is embracing standards stringent enough to satisfy the state of California, which has been fighting for a waiver from federal law so that it could set its own guidelines, sources said. Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) and Jennifer M. Granholm (D-Mich.) will be among a variety of state and industry officials who plan to attend an announcement today, according to sources close to the administration.

The deal has been under negotiation since the first days of the administration. It represents a compromise among the White House; the state of California; and the auto industry, which has long sought national mileage standards and has waged an expensive legal battle against the California waiver. The industry will get its national standard, but at the price of one that approximates California's targets. Industry officials said they would drop all related lawsuits.

David McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said that the agreement reached late Sunday night would provide the industry with "clarity and predictability."

That predictability won't come cheap. A senior administration official said the new standards would raise the cost of an average car by $1,300, $600 of which could be attributed to the rules being announced today. The remaining increase would stem from previous energy policy.

"Consumers can retain choice but for more fuel-efficient cars. Every single category of car will be more efficient," the official said, noting that fuel savings would offset much of the higher cost.

The announcement planned for today marks a major change in tone from the Bush administration, which had rejected California's waiver in March 2008, barring states from setting their own limits on greenhouse-gas emissions from automobiles. At the time, 13 other states and the District of Columbia were also seeking permission to impose standards similar to California's.

Obama had ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the ruling.

Under the compromise, the federal government would establish two sets of standards, one for mileage and one for tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide.

The Transportation Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would set the new fuel-economy standards, which would raise the average fuel efficiency of a new car by 30 percent. Cars, for instance, would need to average 39 miles per gallon by 2016, while light trucks would need to reach 30 mpg.

The EPA, using its power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions under a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, plans a tailpipe emissions standard of 250 grams per mile for vehicles sold in 2016, roughly the equivalent of what would be emitted by vehicles meeting the mileage standard. Vehicles sold in 2009 are expected to emit about 380 grams per mile, industry sources said. The EPA needs to go through a rulemaking process to allow responses before the standards would go into effect.

One person involved in the negotiation said the Supreme Court's ruling on regulating emissions helped push companies to bargain because they feared the prospect of having to comply with separate EPA standards in addition to those from NHTSA and California.

"That's what brought the companies to the table," the person said.

In addition, many of the automakers that originally fought California's standards are now struggling for survival and in a weaker position to fight. Their opposition also waned after last year's high gasoline prices and consumers' newfound frugality shifted the mix of vehicles being sold toward more fuel-efficient models. General Motors said yesterday that in 2008, its cars got an average of 29.7 miles a gallon, higher than the 27.5 requirement; its new trucks got 23.2 mpg, higher than the 22.6-mpg requirement for last year.

"We are pleased that President Obama is taking decisive and positive action as we work together toward one national standard for vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions that will be good for the environment and the economy," Ford said in a statement.

The EPA is also expected to impose restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from leaks of air-conditioning coolant in vehicles. The automakers would be able to use some credits for complying with those regulations to offset a small part of fuel-efficiency requirements, sources familiar with the talks said.

California made modest concessions in the negotiations. From 2012 to 2015, the new mileage standards will be slightly less stringent than required under California's rules, which will be amended. In addition, EPA and NHTSA will use the federal approach of pegging standards to the "attributes" of vehicles, such as size and engine type, said sources familiar with the negotiations. California, by contrast, used just two broad categories of vehicles.

Sources close to the administration said the EPA would still grant a waiver to California at the end of June, but that the state would not exercise it in light of the new national standards.

Proponents of tougher fuel-efficiency standards hailed reports of today's announcement.

"If media reports are true, after years of oil price inflation, policy stagnation and automotive industry litigation, President Obama has solved the energy and economic policy equivalent of a Rubik's Cube," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who was a principal author of the 35-mpg standard that Congress adopted in 2007.

"In addition to dramatically reducing the global warming emissions from our vehicles, this move will slash our dependence on oil and make us more energy independent," Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said in a statement. "Congress put us on the road toward more fuel efficient vehicles two years ago when it passed the first increase in fuel economy standards in more than 30 years. Now President Obama is dramatically accelerating our progress."

news.notes20090519f

[Today's Papers] from [Slate Magazine]

Fuel Efficiency in the Fast Lane

By Daniel Politi
Posted Tuesday, May 19, 2009, at 6:54 AM ET

All the papers lead with news that President Obama will announce new standards for automobile emissions and increase fuel-efficiency targets. The new regulations will mark the first time that the government will set rules on automobile emissions and combine it with fuel-economy standards. The rules would require new cars and light trucks sold in the United States to average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, four years earlier than required under federal law that was passed in 2007. The Wall Street Journal declares that the move "would accelerate the largest government-mandated transformation of vehicles on the American road since the late 1970s and early 1980s." The Los Angeles Times calls it a "potentially pivotal shift in the battle over global warming" as well as "a vindication of California's long battle to toughen standards."

The Washington Post reports that the new rules came as a result of negotiations between the administration, California, and the auto industry that have been going on "since the first days of the administration." Everyone characterizes this as a win for all the parties involved. California has long asked for a waiver to set its own emissions standards but has now agreed to accept the federal limits, which amounts to pretty much what it wanted except the automakers have more time to adjust. For their part, the automakers get the national standard they have long been craving and will be dropping their legal challenges against California. The new standard, coupled with other requirements Congress passed in 2007, would increase the cost of an average car by $1,300. The New York Times states that the new standard "will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016 than it is today." The administration says the new regulation will reduce U.S. oil consumption by 5 percent a year. USA Today points out that if the new rules push automakers to build smaller cars, "highway safety could decline" since they're less safe in crashes.

The LAT and WP front, while everyone covers, claims by the Sri Lankan government that Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed yesterday, effectively bringing to an and the 26-year civil war that killed around 100,000 people. Throughout his years at the helm of the rebel group, Prabhakaran "created one of the most ruthless and sophisticated insurgencies, with many of the tactics he pioneered becoming standard procedure for militant groups around the world," declares the LAT. The NYT points out that some believe the insurgency will come back using the militant tactics that were a hallmark of its existence, such as suicide bombings. But many others say that without Prabhakaran, the Tigers don't have anyone else to lead them. Everyone points out that it was Prabhakaran's ruthlessness and unwillingness to compromise with the government as he fought for a Tamil homeland that led to the destruction of the movement he had built over the years.

While people in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, celebrated in the streets, many within the Tamil community stayed indoors, afraid of what this development could mean for them. Even though many Tamils had long grown wary of the war, they still often saw the Tigers as their "only hope against the discrimination and alleged human rights abuses" of the government, notes the Post. Now many within the Tamil community are worried this victory over the Tigers will translate into violence against them.

The NYT fronts a look at how banks will now be looking at ways they can make more money from some of their best customers. Well, "best customers" might be how you might commonly think of the people who pay their bills in full and on time every month, but they're actually called "deadbeats" in the industry because they don't generate much revenue for the companies. These customers have not only failed to give much revenue to the poor credit card companies, but they dared to demand things like cash-back rewards and frequent flier miles. That may soon be a thing of the past. Now that Congress wants to impose limits on how much the companies can charge riskier borrowers, they're looking at how they can increase revenue from those with good credit. Banks are likely to bring back annual fees, cut back reward programs, and charge interest immediately upon a purchase. Or at least that's what banks want people to believe as they furiously lobby lawmakers, who are discussing a wide variety of rules that could soon be imposed on card companies. "Those that manage their credit well will in some degree subsidize those that have credit problems," said the head of the American Bankers Association.

The NYT fronts word that Zamay Khalilzad, the former ambassador to Aghanistan, might soon take up a powerful position inside the Afghan government. Khalilzad has been in discussion with Hamid Karzai to take on a government position that would essentially be the chief executive officer of Afghanistan. There has been lots of talk that Khalilzad might run for president, but he missed the filing deadline. The move would benefit Karzai, not only because it would help get a potential rival on his side but also because Khalilzad is widely respected in the United States and his appointment would come at a time when the administration has made it obvious that it is growing tired of Karzai. But officials insist the administration had nothing to do with the arrangement.

In a really strange piece—particularly for the front page—the LAT's Ann Powers writes a preview of the American Idol finale that begins tonight that is so schmaltzy it's uncomfortable to read. Apparently, American Idol can teach us After-School Special lessons! The Fox money-making machine "is vividly illustrating how people with cultural differences can make beautiful music together." Huh? In case you haven't been tuning in, it turns out that the finalists are: one gay guy and one Christian guy. Both white. And preppy. And innocuous. But really diverse! And they're "polar opposites" but specialize in variations of emo. One's gay—but doesn't really talk about it beyond saying "I know who I am"—and the other's Christian and did missionary work, but—get this—they're friends on TV! "The friendship between the two finalists suggests that tolerance can trump ideology," writes the LAT, "a powerful sentiment that echoes President Obama's suggestion that bridging differences could be more effective than trying to eradicate them." As long as the gay one doesn't talk about liking men, of course.

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[News & Politics] from [Double X, Slate's magazine for women]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Ain't No Oprah Winfrey

Posted: May 19, 2009 at 9:09 AM
By Dahlia Lithwick

The Supreme Court ruled, 7-2 yesterday in AT&T v. Hulteen that women denied credits toward their pension for their pregnancies in the 1960s and '70s—before it became illegal—were not the victims of gender discrimination. The question came down to whether AT&T could rely on past discriminatory practices—before 1978 pregnant women were denied disability leave granted to men—to calculate pensions. Writing for the majority, David Souter found that AT&T had no obligation to calculate pensions based on laws not in effect at the time: "Although adopting a service credit rule unfavorable to those out on pregnancy leave would violate Title VII today, a seniority system does not necessarily violate the statute when it gives current effect to such rules that operated before the PDA (Pregnancy Discrimination Act)." Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, increasingly apt to voice her frustration at her colleagues’ seemingly limitless maleness, wrote in dissent that the AT&T workers "will receive, for the rest of their lives, lower pension benefits than colleagues who worked for AT&T no longer than they did. They will experience this discrimination not simply because of the adverse action to which they were subjected pre-PDA. Rather they are harmed today because AT&T has refused fully to heed the PDA's core command,” that women should not face discrimination as a result of their pregnancies. This decision will up the stakes in Obama’s selection of a replacement for David Souter. But it’s a big mistake to read the dissent and opinion as an exercise in empathy versus mechanical application of the law. Ginsburg isn’t ranting. She’s applying the law as she believes it was intended to be applied.

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[Today's News] from [The Guardian]」

Speaker Michael Martin to resign today
Speaker is to make a statement to MPs this afternoon announcing his resignation, according to Whitehall sources

Andrew Sparrow, senior political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 May 2009 11.55 BST
Article history

Michael Martin will this afternoon announce his plan to resign as Commons Speaker, it was revealed today.

The news came as an unprecedented motion appeared on the House of Commons order paper, signed by 23 MPs, calling for Martin to resign because of his failure of leadership over the expenses scandal.

Martin will make a statement to MPs at 2.30pm announcing his resignation, according to Whitehall sources. It it thought that he will not step down with immediate effect, but will tell MPs that he will resign soon, possibly before the summer recess.

It was not immediately clear whether he would also resign his seat, triggering a byelection in his Glasgow North East constituency. By convention, retiring Speakers are offered a peerage and it is widely expected that Martin will take a seat in the House of Lords.

The Speaker will be the most high-profile casualty of the expenses catastrophe. Some MPs believe that he has been made a scapegoat for the failure of the Commons as a whole, although Martin has faced persistent accusations of incompetence since his election in 2000.

Under new Commons rules already agreed, the next Speaker will be chosen by secret ballot.

Today one bookmaker made Sir George Young, the Tory former transport secretary, the favourite to succeed Martin.

Sir Alan Haselhurst, the Tory MP who is the most senior of the three deputy Speakers, and Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader, are also strong contenders for the post.

Martin appeared to have lost the support of all three main party leaders. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, has openly called for his resignation, David Cameron, the Tory leader, signalled today that he wanted the no-confidence motion to be called, and Gordon Brown, the prime minister, has now given up saying that he thought Martin was doing a good job.

Downing Street would not comment on reports that Brown met Martin this morning to discuss his future. Downing Street announced that Brown will give one of his regular press conferences later today, at 5.30pm.

But what seems to have persuaded Martin to go was the reaction when he made a statement in the Commons yesterday apologising for his role in the expenses affair. In scenes for which there is no precedent in modern times, MPs from all sides of the house told him to his face that he ought to go.

Martin, a former sheet-metal worker from Glasgow and the first Catholic in history to hold the office of Commons Speaker, was seen as an obstacle to reform because he chairs the House of Commons commission, the body in charge of Commons administration.

When campaigners tried to obtain information about MPs' expenses under freedom of information legislation, the commission fought the case at every stage – even going to the high court at considerable legal expense when many lawyers said the case was hopeless.

Eventually the commission lost, and it agreed to prepare details of MPs' expenses for publication this year. But Martin came in for further criticism when the Daily Telegraph started publishing leaked details about the claims because, instead of accepting that publication was legitimate, the immediate reaction of the Commons authorities was to call in the police to ask them to investigate.

On Monday last week Martin also astonished some MPs when he criticised two MPs in the chamber, Labour's Kate Hoey and the Lib Dem Norman Baker, because they had been critical of the House of Commons commission's handling of the issue.

Yesterday in the Commons, a raft of MPs stood up and publicly called for him to go in one of the most extraordinary parliamentary episodes of modern times.

Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said that Martin was an obstacle to reform.

"He did rather act like a shop steward for MPs and he didn't have the stature and charisma once the crisis hit parliament to find a way through so he was just the wrong person for that situation and hopefully parliament is now going to put that right," Graham said.

Today Baker said that Martin's decision was "the right decision to take". He said that although Martin had had "immense difficulties", he had also made some positive contributions that should be remembered.

"He had to go for the sake of parliament. That does not stop us feeling sorry for him on a personal basis," Baker said.

Carswell said it gave him no pleasure to have played a part in bringing Martin down, but said the House of Commons needed a new Speaker to help guide it out of the current crisis.

The Harwich and Clacton MP told Sky News: "I have acted not as his enemy and least of all as an opposition MP. I have acted as somebody who cares passionately for the parliamentary system.

"I believe we have found ourselves in a moral ditch and we need reform and change to get out of that ditch and restore dignity to politics.

"It gives me no pleasure to have done this at all, but it was necessary to do it. We need a new Speaker who understands that 'sovereignty of parliament' is shorthand for 'sovereignty of the people'.

"The reason why I think we need Michael Martin to step down is because he not only presided over this system, he actively sought to prevent reform."

Paul Flynn, a Labour MP who signed Carswell's motion of no-confidence, said: "I'm afraid that [Martin] has brought this on him self. Parliament has to reform itself. He was the wrong person to do it."

Flynn said that some of the attacks on Martin were unfair, but that it was wrong for Martin to attack the "whistleblowers" who had complained about the Speaker's handling of events.

Flynn also said that he would be supporting the Tory MP John Bercow as the next Speaker because he had the potential to produce "radical reform".

Tony Wright, the Labour chairman of the public administration committee, said there was a "groundswell of opinion" that made Martin's position untenable.