Economics – Feb 19

‘Oil weapon unleashed against Iran’

Mexico’s economy loses steam

Chávez warns price control violators

Airbus workers wait as job cuts statement delayed

Transport – Feb 19

Business joins greens in fight for rail ‘missing link’

Driving towards disaster

Preparing Nigerian cities for expensive oil

Winner of the great transport race: Trams

German transport minister proposes tax breaks for ‘green’ cars

Why the precautionary principle doesn’t cut both ways

Applying the precautionary principle to the economy misses the point. Environmental regulation may indeed retard economic activity. But that damage, if it occurs, is different in kind from the damage our technology and numbers inflict on the biosphere every day. One may lead to a transient loss of wealth; the other may lead to a colossal loss of human life and of the very civilization we have built.