Staff

The China Syndrome bites back

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29 years after the movie “The China Syndrome,” America has triggered a global financial meltdown, from which China thought for a while that it might be immune. Not so. What did not happen in the film, is happening to the real-life economy of China. Factories are closing at astonishing rates, including in the Pearl River Delta – “the factory floor of the world,” and whole areas of business, such as scrap metal, are contracting or collapsing.

Stoking up the woodstove: winter’s first ritual

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Heating effectively with wood requires that one become what I call a woodburning gourmet. To make a really good fire, the wood should be cut and split and allowed to dry for two years in the rick. Dry wood throws at least a third more heat than green wood, and if it burns with a good draft, it does not violate pollution codes and does not block the chimney with creosote.

Budapest “Nabucco Summit” to turn pipedream into reality

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With U.S. and EU participation, a vital meeting in the Hungarian capital next January will seal commitments for the long-contemplated Turkey-Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (Nabucco) gas pipeline. Opposition from Russia’s mighty Gazprom, uncertainty surrounding relations with Iran, and the roiling world economic turmoil cast doubt on the project’s future.