Economist.com Cities Guide: Dubai Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Still sinking

Tales of woe among Dubai’s stockmarket traders spread further as share prices continued to fall in early May. The Dubai Financial Market index dipped below 500 points—down from about 1,300 points late last year. The stockmarket's fortunes directly affect many of Dubai's residents—in a city of about 1.5m people, 300,000 are registered with the Dubai Financial Market. Emirates Today, a local newspaper, reported that some expatriate investors were pulling their children out of school because they could not afford the fees. (Private schooling is the only option for expatriates, as free state education is reserved for United Arab Emirates nationals.) Others reportedly fled the country to avoid repaying debts, having borrowed heavily to speculate on the market during a bull run in 2005.

The downturn has also hit local businesses. Firms ranging from poultry farms to cement factories placed huge bets on the market, which made heavy losses in the first quarter of 2006 after paying rich dividends in 2005. This has left companies with less money to invest in their core activities. Still, with oil trading at around $70 a barrel, the going will not get too rough in Dubai, the Gulf’s main commercial hub. Property development continues apace. After unveiling plans to build a desert resort with 29,000 hotel rooms, called Badawi, Dubai government officials said they had received pledges worth $8 billion from private investors within just nine hours.

A new boss

Dubai's government has hired David Eldon, a former boss of HSBC bank, to run the city’s new financial centre. Mr Eldon’s appointment in May is part of a big restructuring plan for the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), an offshore centre set up in 2004 that boasts Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital among its tenants. (Citigroup, HSBC and Standard Chartered are among other financial giants waiting for offices to be built.) Mr Eldon will lead the DIFC’s new board.

The DIFC has been largely successful so far, having achieved its goal of attracting the world’s leading financial firms. The board’s next challenge is to jump-start the centre’s lifeless financial exchange, DIFX, which has been slow to list companies since its launch last year. A recent downturn in the Gulf’s more established stockmarkets has not helped. Mr Eldon’s appointment came as speculation mounted that the DIFC would bid for Euronext, a European stockmarket operator. The DIFC bought a 1.7% stake in Euronext in late April; buying the bourse operator outright could spark interest in DIFX and help make it the international financial powerhouse it aspires to become. Mr Eldon, who made a name for himself at HSBC by specialising in mergers and acquisitions, should be the right man for the job.

The not-so-poor public servant

Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum was ranked the world’s fourth-richest ruler by Forbes magazine in May. The list was topped by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, followed by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. Forbes estimated Sheikh Mohammed's personal fortune at $14 billion, making him slightly poorer than his neighbour in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa, who ranked third with $19 billion. Unlike most royals in the Middle East, the Maktoums’ wealth does not flow directly from oil sales—Dubai pumps little more than 100,000 barrels each day, and its reserves are expected to dry up by 2010. The emirate’s wealth stems instead from successful businesses, including Emirates Airline and its hotels and resorts. The Maktoum portfolio is boosted by significant stakes in a number of local banks and international firms such as DaimlerChrylser, a carmaker.

As is always the case when estimating a ruler’s wealth, the line between Sheikh Mohammed’s personal assets and those of the government is blurred. The sheikh did not refute Forbes’s figures, though most local newspapers were “advised” not to republish the story. Meanwhile, Time magazine ranked Sheikh Mohammed as one of the “Top 100 People Who Shape Our World” in 2006. Interestingly, he was placed in the list of leading business figures, not politicians. Sheikh Mohammed has devoted himself to making Dubai a hub for businesses and tourists. It is no coincidence that he is often referred to as the emirate’s chief executive.

Access denied

Dubai’s effort to become a business hub has been accompanied by a push to raise corporate-governance standards. In May Dubai’s financial watchdog took a firm stand—and one sure to earn publicity—when it refused to let David Mills, a lawyer and the estranged husband of Tessa Jowell, Britain’s culture secretary, practise law in Dubai. Mr Mills stands accused of taking bribes from Italy’s former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, in exchange for providing helpful evidence in two corruption trials. He had wanted to open an office in the Dubai International Financial Centre, but the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) rejected his application, claiming that Mr Mills had given false answers to questions on his form. Mr Mills has denied the claim, but the incident came at a bad time—his trial for bribery is set to begin in June.

A violent spring

Dubai’s reputation for safety has been rocked by a series of violent crimes this spring. In late April Zakeel Abdul Aziz, a Saudi businessman, was driving with his brother through downtown at night when Abdullah Bidrham, a 21-year-old Saudi, allegedly entered their car and demanded to be driven to the luxury Burj al Arab hotel. When the brothers refused, Mr Bidrham shot them both. Mr Abdul Aziz later died in hospital. Police say that while the motive for the murder is unclear, Mr Bidrham appeared to have been suffering from a psychological disorder or had taken drugs.

The shooting came just weeks after the high-profile robbery of a jewellery shop, and was followed by the brutal murder of a taxi driver. None of the incidents appear to be linked. Dubai does not publish regular statistics on violent crime, so it is impossible to track the ebbs and flows of the local rate. But as the city continues to welcome a flood of expatriates from the Arab world, Europe, Asia and the former Soviet Union, the perception among residents is that violent crime is on the rise, albeit from a low starting point.

Catch if you can

May 2006

The Imperial Russian Ballet's “Swan Lake”

June 5th–9th 2006

The Imperial Russian Ballet has revived the classic tale of Prince Siegfried and Odette, queen of the swans, with a glamorous new production. Still, one might think the company's dancers would be tired of the ballet, having performed it in Japan, Austria, Finland, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, France, Switzerland, Lithuania and, most recently, Italy at the Winter Olympic Games. This month the apparently tireless company trades the chill of Torino for the flush of the desert. The company takes the stage at the Madinat Theatre, which has become a prime destination for music and dance fans. Recent acts at the Madinat include Carmen Cantero, a flamenco outfit, “Chicago”, a Broadway smash, and the ever popular “The Sound of Music”.

Madinat Theatre, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. Tel: +971 (0)4 366 8888. For tickets, visit the Box Office website.

More from the Dubai cultural calendar

Economist.com Cities Guide: Atlanta Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Marching on

Like many cities throughout the country, Atlanta hosted immigration protests on May 1st, with an estimated 3,000-4,500 immigrants and their supporters joining a rally at the state capitol building downtown. Some construction sites were reportedly idle for lack of workers, and Plaza Fiesta, a shopping mall in a heavily Hispanic area, bore signs stating that stores were closed “in solidarity with our people”. The rally came after larger protests on March 24th and April 10th, the latter of which drew 50,000 people.

Immigration is a volatile topic not just in Atlanta, but throughout Georgia, which has seen its Hispanic population triple in the last decade. In April Sonny Perdue, Georgia’s governor, signed the Security and Immigration Compliance Act, requiring those seeking state welfare benefits to prove their legal status. Though the bill makes exceptions for emergency and prenatal care, it is considered one of the toughest immigration measures in America. Vicente Fox, Mexico’s president, criticised it as containing “acts of discrimination.”

Virtual mudslinging

The race to become Georgia’s governor got nasty in April. Cathy Cox, the secretary of state, and Mark Taylor, the sitting lieutenant-governor, are each vying to become the Democratic nominee to oppose Mr Perdue, the Republican incumbent. (No love is lost between Messrs Taylor and Perdue; in Georgia, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately.) In late April the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a member of Ms Cox’s campaign staff had altered Mr Taylor’s biography on Wikipedia, an online open-source encyclopaedia, to include information about the 2005 arrest of Mr Taylor’s 21-year-old son for drunk driving. Ms Cox insisted that she had told her staff not to bring up the arrest. Her campaign manager, Morton Brilliant, resigned soon after.

Mr Taylor is a veteran of nasty campaigns. In 1998 he won the lieutenant-governorship despite a series of televised ads from his rival that referred to his rehabilitation after cocaine abuse. But his resilience may not be enough to win this election. Ms Cox has consistently led Mr Taylor in the polls, and both are running well behind Mr Perdue. A May survey by Strategic Vision, a consultancy, found that Mr Perdue had a 56% approval rating—higher than those of Georgia’s Republican senators.

Cheat your children well

With this year’s campaign for governor getting ugly, a former gubernatorial candidate is in an even bigger mess. On May 10th Linda Schrenko, who served as the state’s schools superintendent from 1995 to 2003, struck a plea bargain to spend eight years in jail for taking $600,000 of federal funds, some of which were earmarked for education for deaf children, and spending it on herself. The money went towards plastic surgery, a computer and a failed 2002 bid for governor against Mr Perdue, among other things. Ms Schrenko was originally charged with 40 counts, including conspiracy, but she pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and one of money-laundering. Two executives fighting similar charges will continue their trial: their computer-supply firm allegedly received many cheques from the state Department of Education, despite apparently providing no services. Meanwhile, new charges have been brought against Ms Schrenko’s former campaign manager, for allegedly obstructing justice by leaking information to Ms Schrenko’s lawyers.

The trial, which began at the beginning of May, proved unexpectedly juicy, particularly for those inclined to contrast Ms Schrenko’s advocacy of abstinence teaching and Bible study in schools (she favoured both during her tenure) with her personal lifestyle: one of the prosecution’s chief witnesses is a former deputy superintendent who reportedly had an extramarital affair with Ms Schrenko.

The police are in trouble

Things are not going well for police in DeKalb County, which includes part of Atlanta. Louis Graham, the county police chief, announced his resignation on May 3rd, and a deputy, Ray Flemister, followed suit two days later. Mr Graham’s announcement came hours after audio recordings were released of him and Mr Flemister speaking about police officers threatening to join a union. A pro-union officer had tried secretly to record a conversation with Mr Graham in March. The chief seized the recorder, and accidentally recorded himself speaking to Mr Flemister about the officer in question, saying, “You don’t get mad, you get even”, and calling the officer a “white bitch”. The officer, who was fired, and another policeman are suing the county and Mr Graham, charging that the chief made racial slurs and punished them for supporting a union. A state prosecutor is investigating Mr Graham’s department.

The union spat is not the only problem facing Mr Graham. He is also under fire for speaking with Vernon Jones, DeKalb’s chief executive officer, about a rape case in which Mr Jones was the defendant (he was later acquitted). And in June 2005 he re-opened five of the famous “missing and murdered children” cases that took place in Atlanta between 1979 and 1981. The investigation garnered favourable publicity for Mr Graham until an Associated Press reporter found that the county had spent less than $4,000 on the re-opened inquiry, most of it on sending detectives to seminars. Mr Graham will step down from his post in June.

Bring on the chicken fat

Georgia may become a biodiesel production hub. Two biodiesel companies based in Rome, north-west of Atlanta, are expanding their production capacities, while two other companies are opening plants in the centre of the state. Middle Georgia Biofuels will open a plant in East Dublin over the summer, while a North Carolina–based firm, NewGen Technologies, plans to open a $60m plant in Sandersville in 2007, and has already bought a distribution centre in Columbus, near the Alabama border.

With the price of oil steadily rising, biodiesel, usually made from fat or vegetable oils (including poultry oils, of which Georgia has ample supply), has gained cachet as an alternative fuel. The National Biodiesel Board predicts that American biodiesel production will rise from 75m gallons in 2005 to 150m gallons in 2006. The Georgia state legislature, for its part, passed a bill in March that requires local and state governments, including school districts, to make their vehicles suitable for biodiesel use by 2008.

Catch if you can

May 2006

“Nickel and Dimed”

Until May 28th 2006

In “Nickel and Dimed”, a book published in 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich explored America’s working-class by joining it. In the name of research she became a hotel maid, nurse, Wal-Mart clerk and waitress, among other things. Her take on the many pratfalls of low-wage America is now enjoying a theatrical adaptation by 7 Stages. The production follows Ms Ehrenreich, played by Del Maron, and a throng of colourful characters, including one actor who plays both a posh New York publisher and a waiter fired for stealing from his workplace. Ms Ehrenreich's book was certainly not a comedy, but this production aspires to make her social message more powerful by lacing it with humour.

7 Stages Theatre, 1105 Euclid Ave. Tel: +1 (404) 523-7647. Performances: Wed 6pm; Thurs–Sat 8pm; Sun 5pm. Tickets: $20. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the show’s website.

More from the Atlanta cultural calendar

Economist.com Cities Guide: Milan Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Bye bye Berlusconi

After weeks of uncertainty Silvio Berlusconi, the outgoing prime minister and leader of the conservative Forza Italia coalition, conceded defeat to Romano Prodi on May 2nd. Mr Prodi and his centre-left coalition had narrowly won national elections on April 9th and 10th, but Mr Berlusconi had demanded a recount and claimed victory for himself. He finally decided to give up his efforts after Mr Prodi's centre-left candidates won leadership of the Senate and lower house at the end of April. The new government will now be formed according to a schedule decided by Italy's new president, who will be elected in mid-May.

Business leaders are eager for Mr Prodi to start work as soon as possible and impose necessary economic reforms-a task made formidable by his fragile mandate and dependence on the radical left. GDP growth was near zero last year, and has averaged less than 0.7% in the last five; employment rates are at just 58%. Italian industries must begin moving away from small-scale manufacturing, family firms and a reliance on low labour costs and devaluation, and towards larger enterprises, more service industries and higher value-added activities. Notwithstanding the snags of coalition politics, the new government must ensure that this economic shift happens swiftly and with little pain, with a programme of liberalisation and privatisation.

The other election

Still reeling from the hubbub of April's national elections, Milan voters will drag themselves back to the polls on May 28th and 29th, this time to choose a mayor. Local elections to replace Gabriele Albertini, the centre-right mayor who has reached the two-term limit, come so soon after the national elections that campaigners have simply pasted new faces over old electoral posters around town. The race between the centre-right's candidate, Letizia Moratti, Mr Berlusconi's education minister, and the centre-left's candidate, Bruno Ferrante, a former prefect of Milan, may prove to be a close one. A poll published on May 3rd by La Repubblica newspaper showed 47-49% of respondents favouring Mr Ferrante and 48-50% favouring Ms Moratti. Some 18% of the 1,000 voters polled April 30th were undecided.

Though Ms Moratti's poll numbers show a solid support base, she has been the target of constant criticism. Opponents first attacked Ms Moratti-who would be Milan's first female mayor-for her arty black-and-white campaign photos, thought to be heavily retouched and years out of date. Then came her misguided effort to involve the community through blogs, which prompted a Green Party parliamentarian, Fiorello Cortiana, to request an investigation of "cybersquatting". Things got more heated at a Liberation Day march on April 25th, when Ms Moratti was booed while pushing her father, an 86-year-old Dachau survivor, in a wheelchair. She was invited by union representatives to participate in a Labour Day march on May 1st, but hecklers in the 50,000-strong crowd forced her to retreat. Yet these attacks may not be all bad: Ms Moratti's aplomb under fire has put her in the spotlight, while Mr Ferrante remains a less visible candidate. He was criticised for not participating in the May Day marches-for fear of heckling, according to some-and is now trying to patch things up with union leaders.

Failure to launch

An effort to sell a 33% stake in SEA Milan SpA, a city-owned company that runs the Linate and Malpensa airports, has stalled on the auction block. None of the four companies that had formally expressed interest placed a bid on March 28th. "The SEA sale has turned out in the worst way possible," Milan's outgoing mayor, Mr Albertini, said in a statement. "It damages the city of Milan and its citizens, who now have to wait who knows how long for strategic infrastructure works to be completed."

Mr Albertini had hoped to raise €600m (about $760m) from the sale, to go towards a new library, a fourth metro line and a spillway for Seveso, about 20km north of Milan. The mayor explained that bidders may have deserted the sale because of uncertainty at SEA, including revolving-door management, a delay by the city council in valuing the company's real estate and last-minute appeals by a regional court to block the sale. Mr Albertini's successor will have the difficult task of reviving the sale. Floating SEA on the stockmarket may be the new mayor's most viable option.

Eating out

A growing number of Milanese are doffing their aprons and buying ready-made meals and take-out food, in a boon for local businesses. A study released by the local chamber of commerce on April 20th showed that the number of businesses making and selling prepared foods had jumped by 101% over five years, with a 30% increase from October 2004 to October 2005.
Milan's food industry has grown over 31%, nearly twice the national average of 18%. Analysts at the chamber of commerce attribute this growth to the "laziness" of locals, who prefer to buy ready-made dishes at supermarkets or pick up meals from delis, kebab joints and Chinese restaurants. It would appear, however, that Milanese are still eating relatively healthily: fruit and vegetable processing increased by 200% from 2000 to 2005.

Hangman

Franco De Benedetto, a construction worker who climbed a tree to "liberate" dummy children installed by Maurizio Cattelan, an artist, was sentenced on April 6th to two months in prison for his crime against art. In a grim public display on May 5th 2004 Mr Cattelan hung three boy mannequins by their necks from Milan's oldest tree in Piazza XXIV Maggio, a square in the Navigli area. The dummies were meant to remain on display for more than a month, but the following evening Mr De Benedetto arrived with a ladder and hacksaw, pushed past the security guard, shimmied up the trunk and cut two of the "children" free before falling five metres to the pavement. He was hospitalised, but not seriously injured. The remaining dummy went on to cause a similar furore at Seville's Contemporary Art Biennial that autumn.

Mr Cattelan and the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, the installation's sponsor, decided not to prosecute, though the damages were estimated at €64,700. The city of Milan was less forgiving, and pressed charges against Mr De Benedetto for destroying art. It took almost two years for prosecutors to establish the dummies as art in the first place, but last month they settled on a fine of €800. Judge Michele Montingelli deemed the punishment "incongruous" with the crime and capped the fine with a two-month prison sentence.

Open water

After almost 90 years of being closed to the public, two sections of the city's canals have been reopened for pleasure cruises. The canals were first built in the 12th century and were later used to haul marble needed to build the Duomo, the world's largest Gothic cathedral, from Lake Maggiore, about 80km north-west of Milan, down the river Ticino to Milan's Naviglio Grande. A restoration project helped open 31km of canals in April, and now 24 passengers at a time can take a two-hour trip along the Naviglio Pavese canal, or a slightly longer excursion from Abbiategrasso, on the outskirts of Milan.

This is a small victory for Empio Malara, founder of the Amici dei Navigli (Friends of the Canals) association, who has spent the last 20 years fighting to bring life back to Milanese waters. Mr Malara told the Corriere della Sera newspaper that he hopes to have 500km of navigable waterways open within three years, including the section of the Naviglio Pavese canal leading to the Charterhouse of Pavia, an ornate monastery about 35km south-west of Milan. The cruise season, considered an experiment to be closely monitored for environmental impact, continues until September.

A lira goes a long way

Italy may have adopted the euro in 2002, but the lira is still valid currency in a food-store chain in Milan. About 20% of business at La Scelta stores comes in the form of old lira notes, Ernesto Colleoni, the chain's owner, told the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. While rummaging through drawers or pockets of old coats, many Milanese-mostly women but also young people-find the odd 10,000 lire (about €5) or even 100,000 lire note, Mr Colleoni said. Every two months, Mr Colleoni makes a trip to the Bank of Italy to exchange lire for about €1,500-3,000. Perfectly legal, this double-currency commerce will last until 2012, when the Bank of Italy no longer will accept the lira as legal tender.

Catch if you can

May 2006

Life I Grandi Fotografi

Until September 3rd 2006

This exhibit of photographs from Life magazine charts the main events of the latter half of the 20th century. The show features 150 classic pictures, including such iconic black-and-white images as Robert Capa's "D-Day", of American troops landing at Omaha Beach in 1944, and Alfred Eisenstaedt's "VJ Day", of a sailor swooping in for a kiss in Times Square in 1945. And there is plenty of glamour, with snapshots of Steve McQueen and his wife, Neile, in bathing suits at their Hollywood home in 1963, and Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly in floaty white dresses backstage at the 1956 Academy Awards. A parallel exhibit, "Used in Life", features vintage prints from the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and is on display in the same space until May 21st.

Spazio Forma, Piazza Tito Lucrezio Caro 1. Tel: +39 (0)2 5811-8067. Open: Tues-Sun, 11am-9pm (Thurs until 11pm). Tickets: €6.50. For more information visit Forma's website.

More from the Milan cultural calendar

Economist.com Cities Guide: Washington, DC Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Closed for business

The public schools in Washington, DC, have long been beleaguered; now the District’s superintendent, Clifford Janey, is expected to announce plans to close or merge 30 of them. Many school buildings have scores of rooms that remain empty thanks to declining enrolment—more than 10,000 students have left the District’s public schools over the past five years. Mr Janey’s proposal would rid the system of 1m square feet of space by the end of the summer, and another 2m square feet by autumn 2008. Principals are now scrambling to keep their schools off the closure list.

The district’s declining enrolment largely stems from dissatisfaction with the public-school system. The city spends more on each student than any state in the country, yet its schools continue to perform poorly. As dissatisfaction grows, more parents are turning to charter schools, which are free of the District's direct control and have been championed by Anthony Williams, DC’s mayor. Over one-fifth of city students now attend the District’s 51 charter schools—up from none ten years ago. The city’s charter schools are also looking more attractive when compared with the cost of local private schools. According to the Washington Post, fees at the city’s elite private schools will break $26,000 this year—as much as some of America’s colleges.

Testing ground

Meanwhile the District is struggling to meet standards set by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the White House’s flagship education reform passed in 2001. In April local public-school students started taking new standardised tests to comply with NCLB. In the past the District used tests that measured students’ performance against that of other students throughout the country; under NCLB schools must test their students against set standards. DC’s school system had to pay a $123,000 fine last year for not adopting the new test earlier.

While the old test was comprised entirely of multiple-choice questions, the new exam—known as the DC Comprehensive Assessment System—requires students also to give brief explanations of their answers. The District’s students had not performed well under the old system, consistently ranking below average. In 2005 more than half of the District’s schools—81 out of 147—were listed as “in need of improvement” under NCLB because they failed to make adequate progress in their test scores. The District has administered training for students and teachers to familiarise them with the new test.

Waffling

A plan to build an expensive new city hospital may have the mayor’s support, or it may not. Anthony Williams continues to send mixed signals about the project: though he has touted the idea of the National Capital Medical Centre (NCMC) in the past, he recently appointed a task force to assess the project’s necessity. He also asked the District’s city council to put NCMC-related bills on hold until the task force issues its recommendations, which probably won’t be before July at the earliest.

It was Mr Williams himself who closed the city’s public hospital, DC General, in 2001. He then signed an exclusive agreement with Howard University in 2003 to build a new hospital on the same site. Council support for the NCMC is mixed. Proponents say that a hospital in eastern Washington is sorely needed; others argue that money for the facility—$400m in all, with $212m from the city—could be better spent addressing healthcare problems by other means. Several related proposals are pending, including bills for financing and location. The council is expected to pass legislation in early May to free up more than $200m from tobacco settlements for healthcare, some of which could be used for the hospital.

Court battle

Since the attacks of September 11th, the city has seen tension between officials, who are trying to protect federal buildings, and residents, who are concerned with their own safety. The most recent tug-of-war has been between the Supreme Court and nearby residents over a proposed barricade to protect the court from truck bombers. On April 27th residents won a victory when the DC Public Space Committee, comprised of local politicians, voted unanimously to deny the court’s request to install pop-up security barriers on a block of A Street, which extends east from behind the Supreme Court building.

At issue was the safety of nearby buildings in the event of a truck bomb blast on A Street. The court proposed a mobile barricade that could block traffic in the event of an emergency, but neighbours complained that the barricade would direct a blast at their houses. The court’s spokeswoman, Kathy Arberg, insisted that the barrier would dissuade bombers from staging an attack in the first place. The court has not decided how to proceed: it could challenge the committee’s vote in court or work out an alternative security plan with the District’s transport department.

On track

Plans are slowly moving ahead to extend the Metro to the region’s two international airports. In late April government officials revived a scheme to run the proposed Metro extension to Dulles International airport under Tysons Corner, a retail and restaurant complex, rather than on an elevated rail through it. The tunnel had been ruled out as too expensive, but proponents, including Dragados, a Spanish company that wants to build it, argue that the cost estimates of up to $800m have been wildly exaggerated. As a result Virginia’s governor, Tim Kaine, ordered a new analysis of the cost of tunnelling as opposed to building an elevated track. Critics are grumbling that the tunnel will prolong the project, which is scheduled to reach Tysons by 2011 and Dulles itself by 2015.

Meanwhile Maryland officials have started giving serious consideration to extending Metro’s Green Line 20 miles north to Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). Maryland officials are reportedly concerned that BWI will become less competitive if it is not accessible by Metro. Maryland legislators voted in late March to approve a $1m study of the proposed rail extension.

Catch if you can

May 2006

“The Persians”

Until May 21st 2006

Turmoil in the Middle East, a foolish war launched by a leader whose father fought a similar war, the collapse of a superpower—one might think that “The Persians” was penned by a contemporary playwright trying to send a message to a certain American president. In fact, “The Persians” is the oldest extant play in the Western canon, written by Aeschylus in 427 BC. The plot centres on the after-effects of the battle of Salamis, in which the Greeks triumphed over the powerful Persian Empire. After the cast gives a brief history lesson, they enter character as the Persian king’s advisers, pondering the fate of their forces.

The actors do justice to Ellen McLaughlin’s excellent translation with fine, often powerful, performances. Though the play is unrelentingly grim, moving from nervous uncertainty to shattering depression, the drama mercifully plays out in one act without intermission.

The Shakespeare Theatre, 450 7th St, NW. Tel: +1 (202) 547-1122. Tickets: $26-$64.75. For more information, see the theatre’s website.

More from the Washington, DC cultural calendar

Economist.com Cities Guide: Sao Paulo Briefing - May 2006

News this month

All change

Despite promising that he would serve a full four-year term, José Serra, São Paulo's mayor, left his job at City Hall on March 31st. As a candidate for the state governorship in October's elections, he is not allowed to hold executive office. Gilberto Kassab, Mr Serra's little-known deputy, is now in charge.

Mr Serra's run for governor is his consolation prize for failing to win the presidential nomination of the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB). That went to the outgoing state governor, Geraldo Alckmin, who also stood down on March 31st. He takes on the Workers' Party incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in presidential elections also in October. Mr Kassab and the interim state governor, Cláudio Lembo, both come from the Partido da Frente Liberal (PFL), a right-of-centre party allied with the PSDB. Mr Kassab will benefit from the fiscal clean-up Mr Serra oversaw during his 15 months in office. After a spending crackdown and the renegotiation of city contracts and debts, São Paulo has approximately 3 billion reais ($1.43 billion) for new programmes. The new mayor is credited with forging the PFL-PSDB alliance that has given the PFL the two top jobs in São Paulo, albeit by default. His party colleague, Mr Lembo, who was Mr Alckmin's deputy, will manage the state government until the elections.

Air turbulence

The fate of Varig, Brazil's troubled airline, is causing serious concern for travellers, including more than 25,000 football fans who bought tickets for flights to next month's World Cup in Germany. The airline, which is considered overstaffed in a competitive industry, owes more than 7 billion reais ($3.4 billion); various plans over the past month to restructure the debt have failed.

Recent flight cancellations and delays prompted the American consulate in São Paulo to warn its citizens off the airline. The company's board and creditors will consider new plans to keep it flying in May, which could involve splitting Varig's domestic and international services, selling its cargo arm and establishing a line of credit from the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), the state investment bank. On May 3rd the company confirmed that Boris Berezovsky, a controversial exiled Russian businessman, had placed a bid. Varig is a listed company, and government officials have said they will not bail it out. Few commentators believe the company will survive this crisis intact to celebrate its 80th birthday in 2007.

Pritzker prize

Paulo Mendes da Rocha, an architect best known for his dramatic concrete-and-steel structures in São Paulo, has won this year's Pritzker Prize, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for architecture. The chairmen of the Pritzker jury, Lord Palumbo, said that Mr Mendes da Rocha brought "the joyful lilt of Brazil to his work". A member of the city's avant-garde 1950s Brutalist movement, the 77-year-old designed the striking Brazilian Sculpture Museum on a triangular site in the Jardins district. He has also renovated a few landmarks such as the Pinacoteca do Estado art museum and the Praça do Patriarca in the city centre.

After Oscar Niemeyer in 1988, Mr Mendes da Rocha is the second Brazilian to win the Pritzker, which was first awarded in 1979. He will be presented with a $100,000 grant and a bronze medal in Istanbul on May 30th.

Dengue on the rise

After two years of declining numbers, the Aedes Aegipty mosquito that transmits Dengue fever is back in force in São Paulo state. One person died and 5,767 Dengue cases were confirmed in the first three months of the year-more than in all of 2005. (Dengue has several forms, one of which can be fatal.) The worst-hit areas are Ribeirão Preto, a town 310km from São Paulo, and the coastal area known as the Litoral Norte, a popular weekend spot.

Municipal health officials throughout the state have launched campaigns to eradicate the breeding areas for the mosquitoes, which lay eggs in still water. Bronislawa de Castro, a co-ordinator with the City Dengue control centre dismissed fears of an epidemic. However, a spokesman from the state health department has warned that there may be up to 15,000 cases in the state: fewer than in past years, when up to 50,000 have been registered, but still significant.

The livin' is easy

Up in the trees, camouflaged by their colour and their slowness, four Bradypi tridactylu live undisturbed in a popular small park in the centre of São Paulo. Better known as Bentinho sloths, the animals may have been left behind when a small zoo was transferred from the area, as it is hard to believe they actively evaded capture. According to André Dias, the administrator of the Praça de Luz park, the city has always had sloths. However, with increased urbanisation, the animals have retreated to the few remaining wooded areas. This particular four-sloth group numbered seven at one point, but restoration of the area and the cutting down of trees led to the deaths of three.

Catch if you can

May 2006

Volpi: A Música da Cor (The Music of Colour)

Until July 2nd 2006

Alfredo Volpi (1896-1988), who came to Brazil from Italy when he was two years old, is a favourite of Brazilian critics and a dominant presence in the country's artistic evolution through the 20th century. Until recently, however, he was little known outside Brazil. He started painting Impressionist-inspired landscapes in the 1930s, before developing his colourful, poster-style abstract geometric canvases in the 1940s and 1950s. This interesting and well-organised show comes 16 years after his first retrospective. It benefits from significant research by the curator, Olívio Tavares de Araújo. Of the 134 paintings on display, 20 have never been shown before.

Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Parque Ibirapuera, Portão 3.Tel: 55 (0)11 5549-9688. Open: Tues-Sun, 10am-6pm. Entrance: 5.50 reais; free on Sundays. See the museum's website.

More from the Sao Paulo cultural calendar

Economist.com Cities Guide: Paris Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Le rewind

Two months of widespread protests have forced the French government to drop a new labour law. The contrat première embauche (CPE), or first employment contract, would have made it easier to fire workers under the age of 26 during their first two years in a job. The CPE was rushed through parliament in early February in an attempt to encourage employers to create jobs for youths—unemployment among young people hovers at a dizzying 22%. But student groups, joined quickly by labour unions, protested against the reform. Their demonstrations gained momentum, and in March more than 1m people participated in strikes, while blockades disrupted two-thirds of all universities. Jacques Chirac, France’s president, finally caved in on April 10th, abandoning the measure for good. The government will now offer subsidies and extra training to companies that take on unqualified young staff.

Two remarkable things have emerged from the CPE debacle. First, the measure’s champion, the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, has managed to keep his job, though his presidential prospects now look bleak. Second, the fractious political left, which rarely manages to agree on anything, coalesced against the CPE and now is more unified than it has been in years. Political pundits doubt, however, that the harmony will last, especially with the pre-campaigning season approaching.

Footing the bill

The anti-CPE protests may cost French universities dearly, since the government has asked them to pay for damage inflicted by students who occupied their campuses in March and April. About 15 campuses suffered considerable damage, mostly anti-CPE graffiti, trashed toilets and general filth from weeks of students camping in corridors. Estimates put the repair costs at €2m ($2.5m), not including damage to Paris’s historic Sorbonne university, which will need up to €1m for renovation and cleaning, according to Yannick Vallee, the vice president of the Confederation of University Presidents. The education minister, Gilles de Robien, said on April 19th that he thought the faculties were capable of footing the bill themselves. But Mr Vallee complained the cash-strapped institutions were being “punished” for the unruliness of their students.

Connecting Paris

Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, has been seeking inspiration from his San Franciscan counterpart on how to deliver free internet access to the entire city. During an April visit to California, Mr Delanoë signed a “Digital Sister Cities” agreement with Gavin Newsom to share information and encourage technology partnerships. Mr Newsom recently reached a deal with Google and Earthlink to provide free Wi-Fi access—albeit sometimes with advertising—across San Francisco.

Mr Delanoë pledged in January that he would try to encourage greater internet coverage and provide free connections for low-income households. Access providers have met city officials in recent weeks to discuss how to wire the city. Thousands of residential buildings have already been linked via fibre-optic cable laid along the city’s sewage pipes.

Justice for Sohane

The trial of two men indicted in a notorious murder ended on April 8th. Jamal Derrar, 22, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for dousing Sohane Benziane with lighter fuel in 2002, setting her on fire and leaving her to die in an underground room on a public-housing estate in the Parisian suburb of Vitry-sur-Seine. Tony Rocca was given eight years for complicity. The court ruled that the crime was premeditated and an “act of torture or barbarism unintentionally leading to death”.

Benziane’s murder was widely viewed as another sign of the dangers for young women in the hard-edged, immigrant-dominated housing estates that rim the capital. The prosecutor claimed that the 17-year-old Benziane, who was of Algerian descent, was targeted by Mr Derrar after he got in a fight with her boyfriend. After her death, women’s groups staged rallies in an effort to end the silence surrounding violence against women in poor immigrant communities. After the verdict Benziane’s friends told journalists that they feared young men in their housing estate would now carry out revenge acts.

Happy birthday Beckett

That most French of Irishmen, Samuel Beckett, was remembered on April 13th, the 100th anniversary of his birth, with an intimate graveside gathering in his adopted city. The playwright moved to Paris in 1937 and wrote most of his famous works in French first, beginning with “Waiting for Godot”. His tomb lies in the Cimetière de Montparnasse, near other iconic figures of 20th-century literature such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. A few dozen people gathered there for a reading of excerpts from Beckett’s Nobel-Prize-winning works. Befitting this master of the absurd, the ceremony was a bit strange, with fans topping his grave with a bowler hat and old neighbours from the hamlet of Ussy-sur-Marne waxing nostalgic about his custom of handing out sweets to children.

A more formal celebration took place at the Irish embassy in Paris, where writers and academics mused on the importance of Beckett’s work and actors performed selections from his plays. The French National Library also announced that it had received the original manuscript of “Waiting for Godot”—whose plotless, endless script was first staged in Paris in 1953—from Annette Lindon, the widow of Beckett’s Irish editor. The Centre Pompidou will hold a large Beckett exhibition next year.

Catch if you can

May 2006

TransBelleville Express: open house for artists

May 12th-15th 2006

Hundreds of artists who work in studios in the up-and-coming eastern neighbourhood of Belleville open their doors in mid-May for this annual four-day festival. The quality of wares varies, of course, but this trendy, ethnically mixed area is definitely worth a detour. You can visit sites showcasing painters, photographers, sculptors, ceramists and video artists, as well as the disused “Petite Ceinture” railway tracks, a historic ring around Paris that will be an outdoor exhibition space during the event.

Starting point: Atelier d’artistes de Belleville, 32 rue de la Mare, 20th arrondissement; or Métro stops Couronne, Pyrénées or Jourdain. Tel: +33 (0)1 4636 44 09. Studios are open from 3pm to 9pm. For more information visit this website.

More from the Paris cultural calendar

Economist.com Cities Guide: Moscow Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Remont control

Moscow is getting a facelift. Some of the city’s most famous areas and landmarks are undergoing a remont—“renovation” in Russian, though the word implies foot-dragging and inconvenience. Most prominently, the much-delayed destruction of the Rossiya hotel, an ugly communist behemoth close to Red Square, is finally getting underway, with an army of migrant labourers moving in to dismantle it. Meanwhile, the pediment of the Bolshoi Theatre, which closed in 2005 for a long-awaited refurbishment, has been relieved of its Soviet-era hammer and sickle.
Kremlin officials apparently plan to replace the insignias with tsarist double-headed eagles.

Few of the city’s inhabitants begrudge the Bolshoi its repairs, or lose sleep over the passing of the unloved Rossiya. But other aspects of the makeover, enthusiastically overseen by Yuri Luzhkov, the city’s popular mayor, do not seem to have the needs of the average Muscovite at heart. The mayor reportedly wants to replace the Rossiya with a faux-tsarist neighbourhood of narrow streets and lanes filled, of course, with exclusive designer boutiques.

An ominous trend

Xenophobic violence is a growing problem in Russia. While St Petersburg is Russia’s racist capital, with shootings and stabbings occurring almost daily, Moscow has seen plenty of incidents lately. Foreigners—particularly African students—are most at risk, but Russian Federation citizens, especially those from the troubled north Caucasus, are increasingly being targeted. On April 1st Zaur Tutov, a well-known singer and the culture minister of Kabardino-Balkaria, a north Caucasian region, was beaten up by a group of skinheads chanting racist slogans. They attacked him after he spoke out against their brash behaviour. And on April 16th, an anti-fascist student activist was stabbed to death.

Local authorities seem slow to grasp the problem. The crime against Mr Tutov was originally classified as an act of “hooliganism”—a term human-rights activists have long criticised for obscuring the true nature of such attacks. Following an order from the prosecutor-general’s office, the incident was rebranded as a hate crime.

Go west

Good news for London-Moscow travellers: in addition to the over-subscribed services on the route offered by British Airways (BA) and Aeroflot, British Midland (BMI), another British airline, will operate daily flights from mid-2006, increasing to twice-daily later in the year. BA will also increase its number of flights.

The changes, announced by the Russian transport ministry, are part of a long-negotiated accord between the civil aviation authorities of Britain and Russia. It also includes new BMI routes from Moscow to Birmingham and Liverpool. In exchange, Aeroflot and Transaero (another Russian carrier, which services Gatwick airport) will be able to add flights to their Moscow-London timetables. The changes signal a wider trend in Russian aviation—according to Russian government figures, foreign carriers saw passenger volumes on their Russian routes increase by 20% in 2005.

Leave or remain?

The long-running debate over whether to bury the body of Lenin, embalmed in his Red Square mausoleum, resurfaced in April. The Russian History Institute, in a report commissioned by a small human-rights organisation, concluded that Lenin’s tenure “hampered” Russia’s development, and that taxpayer’s money was being wasted on his corpse's upkeep. Lengthy queues of visitors remain keen to visit the tomb.

The institute’s membership includes some eminent historians. But the issue’s divisive nature is underlined by the fact that the institute’s own parent organisation, the respected Russian Academy of Sciences, disagreed—Yuri Osipov, the Academy’s head, argued that it was unacceptable to “burn out” history. Communists predictably railed against the report, calling it a “provocation against the Communist Party and a whole generation”.

Dirty money

Moscow’s authorities argue that a crackdown on dirty cars entering the city, announced in early April, is vital to ensure (relatively) clean streets. From April 10th to May 10th traffic police will levy fines of 50 roubles ($1.80) on cars with mud covering their licence plates. The police will also have the power to force motorists to visit car washes before they enter the city. But while the law is not against driving a dirty car, just against unreadable license plates, some traffic police officers are reportedly tricking some drivers into paying 1,000 rouble fines for just having a grungy vehicle.

Cynics, naturally, suggest that this is a crude money-making scheme invented by the police for their own enrichment. According to the Moscow Times, a similar crackdown in 2005 netted 3.2m roubles, with about 80,000 cars and trucks found guilty of muddy licence-plate offences.

Catch if you can

May 2006

Symbols of the Soviet Epoch

Until May 22nd 2006

This exhibition, now at the Historical Museum on Red Square, is a rare chance to see part of the collection of the now-defunct Central Lenin Museum. Before closing in 1993 the museum boasted some 100,000 artefacts, displayed in 34 rooms. The current selection fills just one, but the range of items is wide, from a waxwork of Lenin to gifts to Leonid Brezhnev on his 70th birthday in 1976. Banners and epic Soviet paintings adorn the walls.

Unsurprisingly, this exhibit has been contentious. Spectators have divided into the nostalgic and the outraged, with some calling the show propagandistic, complaining that it fails to mention the victims of the gulag.

The Historical Museum, 1/2 Red Square. Metro Ploshad Revolutsi. Tel: +7 (095) 692 4019. Open: Wed-Mon 10am-6pm; closed first Monday of each month. Visit the museum’s website (in Russian).

More from the Moscow cultural calendar

Economist.com Cities Guide: Chicago Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Guilty

After more than seven years of investigation and six months in court, George Ryan, a former Illinois governor, was found guilty of steering lucrative contracts to cronies while he was secretary of state. On April 17th a jury convicted him on 18 counts of racketeering, mail fraud, filing false income-tax returns, lying to the FBI and obstructing an Internal Revenue Service investigation. His co-defendant and friend, Larry Warner, was convicted on 12 related counts. Mr Ryan, previously most famous for ending the death penalty in Illinois, could face more than 20 years in prison under federal guidelines when sentences are handed down in August. His lawyers, however, believe his age (72) and record of service will help earn him a shorter sentence. They also plan to appeal the verdict, based on what they claim was the judge’s improper dismissal of two jurors early in the deliberation process.

This investigation of state corruption has yielded 75 convictions, making it one of the most successful federal corruption probes in Chicago history. The trial has also drawn attention to the underbelly of Illinois government in an election year: one zealous reformer called the state “a Petri dish for corruption” at a meeting of state prosecutors a week after the verdict was announced.

What’s in a name

A battle that threatened to divide Chicago’s city council along racial lines finally came to an end in late April. Madeline Haithcock, an alderman for the city’s second ward, had been campaigning to name a street after Fred Hampton, a leader of the Black Panther Movement whom Chicago police officers shot to death in his apartment in 1969. But Ms Haithcock announced on April 26th that she would give up her efforts, two days after the council’s transportation chairman refused to put the motion to a floor vote.

Controversy over the renaming had plagued the city council since February, when the transportation committee unwittingly passed Ms Haithcock’s motion in a routine vote dealing with several other matters. The city’s Fraternal Order of Police, the policemen’s union, had opposed the renaming, as had many members of the council. Ms Haithcock was backed by many black colleagues and Hampton’s former co-chairman of the Panthers, Bobby Rush, now a federal congressman. Tension boiled over at a press conference in March, when protesters, including Hampton’s son, faced off against Chicago police, shouting “No justice, no street, no peace”. Ms Haithcock, perhaps recalling the bad days of the 1980s, when the council was racially polarised, has promised to find another way to honour Hampton.

You’re on camera

Like many big cities, Chicago increasingly has its eye on its citizens. In late April Chicago’s mayor, Richard Daley, announced plans to add 70 new surveillance cameras to the more than 2,000 already in use. Like most of the existing cameras, these will be placed on utility poles in high-crime areas, feature night vision and 360-degree rotation, and will be linked both to police precincts and to the city’s emergency-response centre. Assets seized from drug dealers will cover the $1.68m installation cost. Fifty of the new cameras will be cheaper and lighter than the older models, costing about $20,000 and weighing 35lbs each, compared with $34,000 and 100lbs for their predecessors.

Mr Daley also supports a plan requiring all businesses open for more than 12 hours a day to install digital cameras. Even with the new cameras, Chicago’s digital-surveillance system still trails London’s (perhaps mercifully), which features more than 500,000 cameras producing an average of 300 recordings of every Londoner each day.

Looking for a break

As petrol prices continue to soar, Chicagoans have looked to their mayor for some respite. But on April 25th Mr Daley rejected calls to ease the city’s nickel-a-gallon petrol tax, claiming that doing so would deplete funds needed for road maintenance. The tax brings in about $60m each year, out of a total of $148m from petrol, parking and taxi and limousine drivers. Doing away with the petrol tax, Mr Daley argued, would only make roads dangerous, while ignoring what he called a fundamental “crisis” of being “too dependent” on petrol.

Chicagoans pay an average of $2.99 per gallon, though prices vary from $2.85 to $3.29 depending on the station. By way of comparison, New Yorkers pay upwards of $3 per gallon, while Britons shell out more than $6 per gallon.

Play ball

Chicago’s baseball teams have begun this year’s season more or less the way they finished the last one: the south-side White Sox, who won the World Series, are atop their league, while the north-side Cubs continue their century-long tradition of tantalising failure.

The Sox finished April tied with the Cleveland Indians for the best record in the American League Central division. The team’s success over the last couple of years has been largely attributed to playing “small ball”—a strategy that emphasises speed and savvy rather than power—which had been presumed extinct in an era of steroids and juiced balls. The Cubs, meanwhile, began the year with their two best pitchers on the disabled list. Matters were hardly helped when their top hitter, Derrek Lee, broke his wrist after colliding with the opposing team’s shortstop.

Catch if you can

May 2006

The African Presence in Mexico

Until September 3rd 2006

This is a comprehensive look at the influence of Africans on Mexican culture. It is broken up into three sections: the first looks at the lives of Africans in Mexico from 1609—when the first African township in the Americas was created. The second section traces the long-standing relationship between Mexicans and African-Americans, highlighting milestones such as the underground railroad’s terminus in Mexico and the landmark campaign of Antonio Villaraigosa, the Mexican-American mayor of Los Angeles. The third looks at the relationship between African-Americans and Mexicans in Chicago.

The Mexican Fine Arts Centre Museum, 1852 West 19th St. Tel: +1 (312) 738-1503. Open: Tues-Sun, 10am-5pm. For more information, visit the museum’s website.

More from the Chicago cultural calendar

What is the price of plagiarism?

from the May 11, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0511/p14s01-lire.html

When someone steals another's words, the penalties can vary widely.

By Karoun Demirjian Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

If you've kept up with the publishing industry lately, you've heard of Kaavya Viswanathan. The Harvard sophomore got a $500,000 advance from publishing firm Little, Brown, and Co. for her book, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life." But her own life took a sour turn after she was accused of copying several passages of her novel either directly or indirectly from books by Megan McCafferty, Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot, and Salman Rushdie. It's the most high-profile accusation of plagiarism in a recent spate of scandals that have implicated a variety of figures in a variety of fields.

Last week, Raytheon CEO William Swanson endured public embarrassment and a pay cut when he was outed for copying some of the rules in his book, "Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management," from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, humor columnist Dave Barry, and an obscure World War II-era book by W.J. King. A month ago, researchers from the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., unveiled their proof that Russian President Vladimir Putin had copied whole sections of William R. King and David I. Cleland's "Strategic Planning and Policy" in his dissertation. Three years earlier, the newspaper industry had suffered a blow when The New York Times's Jayson Blair was shown to have copied or fabricated dozens of his stories.

Whether in the professional world or the classroom, plagiarism appears to be everywhere. And according to experts, it's on the rise.

"The main reason is the advent of the Internet," says Donald McCabe, a professor at Rutgers University who has studied plagiarism in secondary and higher education for more than a decade. According to his research, 58 percent of high school students admitted to having committed an act of plagiarism in the past year.

"A lot of students in their early education do not get a very good grounding from their instructors about when it's acceptable to use somebody else's material," says Jane Kirtley, who teaches Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota. "There's also a sense among students today that if it's something they can find on the Internet, then by definition, they can use it freely without attributing it to anybody."

The Internet provides plenty of temptations for would-be plagiarists, from essay-writing services to millions of web pages. The easy availability of such resources can cloud judgment and lead to misuse or abuse of information. "On the part of students, there's an eerie logic to justify cheating," says Denise Pope, a lecturer at the School of Education at Stanford University and author. "It's three o'clock in the morning, you're exhausted, you've worked hard ... rather than getting a zero, you'd take your chances with plagiarism."

The problem is even more pronounced among honors students, who often believe they have the most to lose when it comes to grades, Ms. Pope says. "Students believe their parents would be less upset to find out they cheated if they get the A in the end," she says. "They sort of convince themselves that this is what needs to be done, even if it's wrong."

How wrong plagiarism is perceived to be, though, often depends on the immediate
consequences. At Evanston Township High School near Chicago, students receive a copy of the school's plagiarism policy at the beginning of each school year. "If they plagiarize a whole paper, they get an F for the semester. If it's just a major portion, they get an F for the quarter," says Janet Irons, an aide in the English department. All the school's teachers are trained to use Internet plagiarism-detection services like Turnitin.com, which scans papers for similar passages online.

Professor McCabe says that even in high schools without such a protracted policy, F's or suspensions are often standard punishments for plagiarism. But almost half of the teachers he interviewed say they've observed cheating but have not reported it. "It often comes down to 'he said, she said' proof, and that isn't really enough," he explains.

In New Haven, Conn., the Executive Committee at Yale University hears about 35 cases of academic dishonesty per year, according to Jill Cutler, assistant dean and secretary of the committee. Yet the problem is greater than that figure lets on. "There are lots of professors who read a paper, know something is wrong, and decide not to take it up," she says. "Sometimes people think of it as a 'teachable moment.' But it's a lot of work [to make an accusation of plagiarism], and you don't always find sources to prove it happened."

The average punishment for students found guilty of cheating at Yale is a two-semester suspension, Ms. Cutler says. The average punishment is the same at Ms. Viswanathan's institution, Harvard, where the plagiarism policy is outlined in a one-hour lecture during freshman orientation.

But consequences at other campuses vary. Aaron Albert, a freshman who works in the academic dean's office at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., doesn't pause when recalling his school's plagiarism policy. "There's only one punishment for plagiarism here.... If you're accused and convicted of plagiarism, you're dismissed permanently from the school," he says, "People know - if you're gonna plagiarize, you're taking your academic career in your own hands."

At Haverford College in Pennsylvania, which also has an honor code, penalties are recommended by a student Honor Council and can range from suspension or failing grades to more inventive sanctions, such as a public apology or composing an essay about plagiarism. Such remedies and consequences are based on ideals of education and restorative justice, says Joe Tolliver, Haverford's dean of students. "The process is about helping [the student] see the mistake they made and be reinstated into the community," he says.

That type of early recognition can be important, since cheating can have serious financial and even criminal consequences in other areas of life.

"In an academic context, it's really about shame," says Corynne McSherry, an intellectual property attorney in San Francisco and author of "Who Owns Academic Work? Battling for Control of Intellectual Property." "You might be kicked out of your department, or if you're a student, you might get a failing grade. With copyright, you could be taken to court and have to pay damages."

Though plagiarism is not itself a legal offense, many aspects of the act can be construed as copyright infringement, says Glynn Lunney, a law professor at Tulane University. Because anything written is automatically protected by the Copyright Act of 1976, copiers can always be liable for the harm suffered by a person whose work was copied, he says. If an author has a registered copyright, copiers can be liable for legal fees and damages, which range from $750 to $30,000 per work copied. Those fines can rise to $150,000 if the copying is particularly egregious and willfully done.

"Copyright infringement for moneymaking work happens all the time," Mr. Lunney says, adding that the rule is the same whether it's a case like Viswanathan's or Napster's music file-sharing. "That's what all copyright cases are about - it's always in the moneymaking context."

Still, copyright infringement only occurs when one has copied a substantial amount of another's work, says Rochelle Dreyfuss, a law professor at New York University.

"There's a lot that is not copyrightable, like broad concepts," she says. "Similarly, taking facts is also not taking anything that's not copyrightable. And sometimes, if something's written in a very factual, very stripped-down way, the words might not even be copyrightable."

Copying may also lead to fraud charges - which can carry criminal penalties. "Most publishing contracts have a clause where the purported author of the work promises it's their work," says Lunney. If not, the case can go to a district, or even a federal, attorney.

Yet even in cases that do not reach the courtroom, penalties can be enormous. "Whatever legal remedies are available, at the end of the day, the author's reputation is at stake - and that can be very hard professionally," Lunney says.

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Athlete tent gives druglike boost. Should it be legal?

from the May 12, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0512/p02s01-usgn.html

An antidoping agency looks into a technology that mimics a natural environment - and the effects of a banned drug.

By Christa Case Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

All athletes dream of reaching great heights - but in a minivan?

Top US mountain biker Carl Wecker says his first mentor used to drive up to the top of a nearby mountain every night and sleep in his car to get the endurance benefits associated with high altitude.

"It's not too big a price to pay when you're training hard," says the Oregon native and four-time participant in the mountain biking world championships. "It just sounds weird."

Today, Mr. Wecker has a more convenient solution: an altitude tent, which simulates thin mountain air right in his bedroom.

But a meeting this weekend in Montreal could change all that. The World Anti- Doping Agency (WADA), which has standardized the bans on performance-enhancing drugs in sports, will take on the trickier issue of artificially induced altitude conditions - used by elite and amateur athletes in everything from running and cycling to skiing. The crux of the issue: If the effects of an illegal drug can be simu-lated in a natural environment, is it ethical to use artificial means to reproduce that environment?

Unlike most such controversies, where athletes have borrowed medical substances to enhance their performance, the battle over the altitude tent stems from technology built specifically for elite competition.

Many high-profile athletes have used the tents, such as miler Suzy Favor Hamilton, swimmer Ed Moses, and, reportedly, cyclist Lance Armstrong.

The tents and similar technologies, such as nitrogen houses, either remove oxygen or decrease the concentration of oxygen. Like thin mountain air, the gaseous concoction can induce physiological changes that increase an athlete's endurance, experts say. However, there is no scientific consensus on the cause of the extent of the benefits.

For the optimal benefit, athletes have to "live high and train low," they add. So sleeping in an altitude tent allows them to live high and train near sea level - without the minivan commute.
Critics oppose the technology because its effects are very similar to those obtained by using the banned substance EPO. A naturally occurring hormone, EPO is sometimes injected to boost performance in endurance sports. At an altitude of about 8,000 feet or higher, an athlete's body will start to release more EPO, creating the same effect.

Supporters of altitude simulation contend it is just the latest instance of using technology to improve performance - and without the negative side effects of drugs.

"From almost the Greek Olympiad, humans have been using their minds to try to figure out a better way to perform," says Jim Stray-Gundersen, a physician and leading expert on the altitude issue. "It hasn't just been about physical gifts. You have to train those gifts."

After publishing a key study in 1997 on the benefits of live high/train low, Mr. Stray-Gundersen served as medical director for a Norwegian Olympic Committee project to use altitude chambers in preparation for the 2000 and 2002 Olympics.

Word of the project got out and created a stir among Norwegians. The Norwegian Olympic Committee eventually dropped the idea, citing ethical considerations. But Stray-Gundersen says he has yet to receive a clear explanation. "The arguments are not logical, they are emotional, and they are very intuitive - you either feel it or you don't," he says in a telephone interview from Park City, Utah.

A WADA official and an athlete participating in the upcoming meeting declined comment, saying that no statements could be made before the weekend.

One of the leading manufacturers of altitude tents - New York-based Hypoxico - says they have the potential to surpass the usual 1 to 3 percent improvement in performance associated with live high/train low. The tents, together with the generators that alter the makeup of the air inside them, sell for $4,000 to $7,000, while chambers - designed mainly for health clubs, which put exercise machines in them - start at about $20,000.

The company declined to give out specifics on sales and clientele, but said a growing number of their customers are mountaineers preparing for high-altitude ascents, as well as adventure racers and even athletes from relatively obscure sports like speed waterskiing. Its website lists the US military as a client, and in addition, amateur cyclists provide a steady stream of sales, it says.

WADA's executive committee is expected to take up the issue at this weekend's meeting, which will also address other antidoping concerns. Although the International Olympic Committee has set something of a precedent by banning altitude tents in Olympic villages, athletes and others are already asking how a possible WADA regulation could be enforced. Will there be surprise bedroom checks?

Others ask why it's OK to sleep in the mountains, but not in similar air that's artificially created.
"I don't see how they can make one legal and not the other," says Wecker. "Holding your breath would probably do the same thing."

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Research fraud rampant in China

from the May 16, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0516/p01s03-woap.html

A Chinese study found that 60 percent of PhD candidates admitted to plagiarism, bribery.

By Robert Marquand Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

BEIJING - The stunning revelation of fraud and fakery in the heart of China's R&D industry has vindicated a feisty set of scholars who are gaining traction in exposing a culture of fraud and corruption in China's colleges.

Just days ago authorities revealed that the Hanxin digital signal chip, a so-called "Chinese chip" designed to enhance home-grown computer technology, is not an original. Chen Jin, "father of the Chinese chip," evidently used a product from a foreign firm to win a lucrative bid in 2003 - ironically, to spearhead a much publicized patriotic national drive to create a Chinese super microchip.

For scientists and researchers in China, the Chen case, while embarrassing, is all too typical. Other fraud cases are coming to light that reveal a deeply ingrained habit of plagiarism, falsification, and corruption - widely recognized, but not widely policed or punished in Chinese universities.

It also arrives in the midst of growing concerns about the nature and character of native firms, of exports, and of the contributions to technology and scholarship by China around the world. What has been an irritating and somewhat comical issue about pirated DVDs - has now morphed into a fuller-scale complaint about high-tech intellectual property rights violations. The American Chamber of Commerce Tuesday issues a tough "white paper" on piracy violations and practices in China.

Last week nearly 120 Chinese scientists living in the US wrote an open letter of concern to Ministry of Science officials, arguing that standards of research in China have dipped to such lows, that the country's reputation is on the line. Ironically, the desire to boost China's research reputation, and the pressure that puts on scientists, is partly fueling the corner-cutting.

A recent Ministry of Science study of 180 PhD candidates in China found that 60 percent admitted plagiarizing, and the same percentage admitted paying bribes to get their work published.

"The actual situation might be worse than that, particularly in the area of social sciences," says Fang Zhouzi, a biochemist who splits his time between California and Beijing, and runs a website that has detailed more than 500 cases of serious academic fraud in China.

Mr. Fang is one of the feistiest whistle-blowers - wellknown and also feared in Chinese academic circles. Fang, whose real name is Fang Shi-min, is an Old Testament angel of vengeance when it comes to lying and cheating, and his work has led to a number of high-level fraud exposures and dismissals in the academic world.

His investigations have exposed:

• Yang Jingan of Hefei Industry University, who was expelled from the communist party after Fang disclosed plagiarized essays from foreign academic journals;

• Liu Hui, dean of the Medical School of Tsinghua University, who was dismissed after Fang found that Liu falsely claimed to have been director of medical research at New York University;

• Yang Jie, dean of biology at Tongji University in Shanghai, who was dismissed after admitting to having a falsified résumé.

In the computer chip case, it was an assistant that exposed Mr. Chen. Evidently fearful of being implicated in what was proving a fruitless mission, the assistant posted on Jan. 17 an exposé on the Xinhua bulletin board.

On May 12, Shanghai's Jiaotong University, where Chen is based, stated the Hanxin, or "Chinese heart chip," was a DSP 56800E, by Motorola. The University promptly fired Chen. The chip on display in Shanghai at the festive 2003 chip launch, attended by top officials, was a painted piece of metal, it was revealed.

Yet Fang and other fraud-busters say such public disgracings are the exception, not the rule. They argue that the culture of plagiarism continues mainly because corruption runs to the upper levels of the institutions of higher learning, and efforts to expose it are throttled.

Take the case of Wei Yuquan. Mr. Wei is vice president of Sichuan University as well as an immunologist and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A recent article by Mr. Wei describing an experiment to treat cancer cells was billed as groundbreaking. Yet when Si Lu Sheng, a relatively obscure older pathologist from central China, reviewed the article, something stuck in his craw. Mr. Si asked Mr. Wei for simple verification. But Wei refused to present basic evidence, discuss methods, or even present receipts for lab purchases of special white mice. Yet on the basis of the article, Wei received a $60,000 grant from China's National Life Science and Nature fund - big money for professors here, some of whom make only $350 a month.

Si was flabbergasted. Nearing retirement, and with little to lose, he started a small campaign to expose what he felt was cheating, he told the Monitor.

Wei visited Si several times to talk him out of his campaign. Si was offered a lucrative research project. But Si wasn't biting. So, a different kind of pressure was exerted - Si got harassing phone calls and his wife was pressured at her job. In the end, the university backed its vice president. But no substantive evidence of the veracity of the medical test has been forthcoming.

"I got involved to warn younger scholars of the harm of falsifying research," Si says. "The faking is obvious, everyone knows it. But no one dares to talk about it, since the university president declared the work was acceptable. When the senior leaders at the university ordered the discussion to be closed, it was."

So Si sent a set of letters and the case to Fang's website.

A Sichuan University spokesman contacted Monday said that, "There is no clear line between academic corruption and academic disputes. People who are fighting against corruption are not reliable and do so to make a name. We should let the leaders of the university decide."

"What we need is to actually punish those who commit fraud, to kick them out," says Tsinghua University engineering professor Zhou Nanyuan, who does research in the area of science fraud. "So far we only have an oral commitment to police this, from our university leaders. The problem is that many violators remain, even after they are exposed."

"The higher the position a cheater occupies, the easier for him to avoid investigation and punishment," Fang told the Monitor.

The increase in science-related fraud contributes to the exposure of corruption, since science tends to be a performance-driven discipline where verification is part of the accepted process, experts here say.

Still, Si says that serious science review mechanisms are lacking. The science magazine editors that first published the article were chosen by seniority rather than professional capability, Si says.

Party members loyal to the school have far greater say in the review process than a more knowledgeable, but less senior, figures. Since grants are state funds, few on the review boards are willing to stick their necks out and rebut serious scientific claims - especially for grant proposals that appear under titles like "national research."

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Japanese find it easier to be green

from the May 03, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0503/p04s02-woap.html

In a country that has often paved paradise, more citizens back taxes aimed at stemming environmental degradation.

By Bennett Richardson Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

TOKYO - In Japan's rush to rebuild after World War II, the focus was on infrastructure rather than environmental management. But a combination of higher public interest in the environment, and a revamping of tax regulations is boosting efforts to reverse the country's lingering legacy of environmental degradation.

"There is an awareness these days [of the need for care when engaging in environmental engineering] and it has been there for quite a long time," says James Nickum, an expert on environmental management at Tokyo Jogakkan College. "That doesn't mean there are no more significantly controversial projects, but there seem to be fewer than 10 years ago."

Extremes of nature in Japan have long necessitated a culture of redesigning the landscape for human needs, with such tasks as waterway management to prevent flooding during typhoons a deeply ingrained part of traditional village life. Evidence also exists of periodical deforestations and replanting, particularly during the Edo period (1603-1867).

Because of the postwar focus on growth, Japanese by the 1980s were much less inclined to think of nature as something that needed active protection, says Fumi Hayashi, a social scientist at Toyo Eiwa University who studies how societies conceptualize nature.

But recent studies show that the apathy toward environmental issues is significantly less prevalent than it was two decades ago.

Under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the so-called "iron triangle" of industry, politicians, and bureaucrats has weakened, giving municipalities more power over such areas as natural-resource management. Many residents are also willing to significantly increase their tax burden in the interests of lending nature a helping hand.

The result has been a mushrooming of local initiatives, often driven by grass-roots organizations, to improve tax-based funding for environmental improvements.

Ironically, one high-profile effort this spring targets culling Japan's trees - or at least, better management of them.

After World War II, thousands of cedars were planted around the countryside as a money crop for their timber. But low-cost logging in China and Southeast Asia has made harvesting them commercially unviable.

"Despite being at the perfect felling age of over 35 years, the buildup in unharvested cedar and cypress trees is increasing at an extraordinary rate nationwide," says Ryoichi Ishii, a forestry expert at Nomura Research Institute. The backlog of trees waiting to be felled more than doubled from about 2.7 billion acres in 1981 to about 5.6 billion acres in 2002.

Unharvested, they are vexing residents by releasing large clouds of allergenic pollen each spring. The problem has become so severe that the Tokyo municipal government is asking citizens to donate 1,500 yen ($13) each for a project that aims to replace cedar forests west of the capital with a different species of tree.

Such a move would not only be positive from an environmental health point of view, but could also "be positive ecologically if the culled trees were replaced by a greater variety of species, ideally a mixed canopy," says Mr. Nickum.

Indeed, unless something is done urgently, Japan's cedar woes may become permanent.

Forestry workers here are aging rapidly and there is a danger that soon there won't be enough left who are physically capable of thinning work.

"If culling can't be carried out, then mixing in broadleaf trees won't proceed and forests that are too dense to operate in will spread," says Mr. Ishii.

More than 30 municipalities around the country are addressing the issue broadly, introducing environment taxes to help restore or preserve woods, as well as fund forest maintenance and education programs.

"One of the main reasons behind these forest taxes has been regional autonomy laws introduced in 2000 that make it easier for local municipalities to impose new tax regimes," says environmental policy analyst Mikihiko Watanabe at The Japan Research Institute, a private research consultancy.

"Other key factors," he adds, "are more interest in environmental problems among the general population, and a higher awareness of the important role that forests play in cultivating water sources."

Two of Japan's 47 prefectures, Okayama and Kochi in western Japan, have also recently imposed such forest taxes. Although the levy only amounts to about 500 yen ($7) a year, the fact that there has been little resistance suggests a shift in thinking, says Mr. Watanabe.

In the 1980s, few would have been willing to foot the bill. But now, "Japanese view the forest's function in maintaining the water table, or the enjoyment provided by beautiful scenery as a kind of service that requires upkeep," he says.

Indeed, surveys show that households in Kanagawa, south of Tokyo, would be willing to pay an extra 2,000 yen ($17) annually to improve the environmental-friendliness of drainage facilities, for instance.

Citizens of Hyogo, west of Osaka, wouldn't mind a new tax of about 9,000 yen ($80) for steps to prevent erosion, or to make exhaust emissions 20 percent cleaner.

Other projects considered of equal value were introducing protective measures for 190 types of wild bird, or creating 75 kilometers of hiking trail.

Japanese companies, long known for their environmentally friendly products, are also playing a more active role in forest conservation.

Toyota Motor Corp., for example, sponsors forest, wetland, and mangrove swamp projects domestically and also in China.

It runs a school in central Japan to teach elementary students about environmental issues, and supports a number of nonprofit organizations such as the WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

And TEPCO, Japan's largest electricity supplier has donated millions of dollars toward reforestation.

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China's Pearl River smells, but mayor vows to swim

from the May 05, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0505/p01s01-woap.html

China begins to tackle pollution out of concern over local discontent.

By Simon Montlake Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

GUANGZHOU, CHINA - The mayor of China's top manufacturing city is hosting a "swimathon" this summer in the local Pearl River. Cleanup efforts to reverse years of industrial pollution have been so successful, claims mayor Guang Zhangming, that the Pearl is once again safe to swim. To prove it, he plans to don a suit and join the 10,000 other swimmers whom he hopes will take the plunge.

But after looking into the filmy water and smelling its foul wafts, other officials are said to be begging off. Three vice-mayors told a local newspaper that they couldn't swim.

After decades of rapid industrial growth, China has reached a moment akin to America in the 1970s: Pollution has become too obvious to ignore, sprouting a new environmental consciousness and official efforts to start cleaning up.

One of the early environmental campaigns is focusing on the Pearl, a 1,375-mile river which rises in the Tibetan foothills and empties into the South China Sea. Around one-third of Chinese exports are manufactured on the Pearl delta, exacting a steep environmental cost. Billions of dollars have been spent on new sewage treatment plants and moving heavy industry out of major cities. As a result, river quality has improved in cities like Guangzhou, where riverside walkways are thronged with families and couples on bicycles.

But the river, like the rest of the country, still has a long way to go to reach standards of air and water quality achieved in the West or other wealthy Asian countries.

After a long day's work driving a truck, Mr. Huang leans back on a concrete riverbank balustrade. Huang and his childhood friends recall spending much of their youth playing by, and in, the river.

"I'm not brave enough to swim in the river now, not even if you paid me," says Huang, chuckling with his buddies.

Many locals share that sentiment, prompting speculation that universities may eventually be asked to find recruits for the "swimathon." Local newspapers reported that government officials might also resort to dumping chlorine into the river or releasing fresh water from upstream reservoirs as a temporary fix. One local government environmental official ducked a reporter's question on whether the water was safe for swimmers, saying it was up to other experts to decide.

"They know the water isn't suitable for swimming if we look at the quality, but they want to push people to pay more attention to water protection," says Li Shiyu, dean of environmental science at Zhongsan University in Guangzhou.

Such political grandstanding is nothing new in China, though the focus on the environment is. In part, it reflects the greater visibility of such issues in Beijing in the wake of a series of industrial accidents and health scares, including a toxic chemical spill last November in the Songhua River.

China's sulfurous skies, filled with emissions from coal-fired plants and an expanding auto industry that sells 24,000 new units a day, also have a global impact. Some predictions say China will overtake the US as the largest producer of greenhouse gases within 20 years.

Ever alert to their own hold on power, Chinese policymakers have cited a risk of further social unrest if local officials fail to regulate industries properly. While land disputes are perhaps the common flashpoint in China, rural residents have also vented fury over the contamination of drinking water and farmland by factories and mines.

Beijing now says it will weigh economic growth in provinces against environmental protection. But enforcement of environmental laws is spotty. In theory, China's State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), a national agency with provincial offices, should be a check on local officials. But that is rarely the case, say critics.

"[SEPA's] function is to monitor provincial operations, but they are actually funded by the provincial government whose main concern is economic growth, so it's difficult for [SEPA] to really function," says Yang Ailun, a Greenpeace activist in Guangzhou.

Given its wealth and reputation as the world's workshop, the Pearl River Delta could offer clues on China's ability to balance growth with the sustainable use of natural resources.

While its rivers and skies have taken a pounding, observers say the degradation pales in comparison with other industrialized parts of China that have less money to spend on cleaning up.

Guangzhou has begun collaborating with Hong Kong on monitoring air pollution that often blankets Hong Kong's famed skyline. Guangzhou's middle class is growing more health-conscious, and "green" groups have sprouted on university campuses.

But despite the addition of new water-treatment plants in Guangzhou, experts say that there's a long way to go. A study completed last year on marine life in the Pearl River estuary found high levels of toxic metals. Shrimp contained 16 times the level of recommended cadmium, according to researchers, who identified industrial pollution as the likely cause.

"Factory discharge along the Pearl River is under better control compared with five years ago," says Li Xiangdong, a professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic who coauthored the study. "But even if you control one or two [polluters], the others are still there. It's a widespread problem for water quality."

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A push for cars to get better gas mileage

from the May 08, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0508/p03s02-uspo.html

A key dispute is whether proposed fuel standards should apply equally to all vehicles.

By Brad Knickerbocker Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

The confluence of skyrocketing gasoline prices, new reports on climate change, and the never-ending debate over US energy policy sharpens efforts to encourage - if not mandate - better gas mileage in the cars Americans drive.

New legislation is being introduced, and President Bush has asked Congress to give him the authority to increase passenger-car fuel economy standards. Many observers say he already has that authority, as have a succession of presidents since Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were initially set 31 years ago.Environmental groups voice their support
"I would love to believe that President Bush has finally seen the light on this," says Daniel Becker, director of the global-warming program at the Sierra Club, a grass-roots environmental organization.

Like the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit environmental group of scientists and citizens, as well as other supporters of more rigorous CAFE standards, Mr. Becker asserts that the technology already exists to make all new vehicles average 40 miles per gallon within 10 years.

"Taking this step would save the average driver over $5,000 over the lifetime of their vehicle, even after accounting for the added cost of the fuel-saving technology," he says. "At the same time, raising fuel economy standards would save 4 million barrels of oil per day - an amount equal to what America currently imports from the entire Persian Gulf and could ever get out of the Arctic Refuge, combined."

Union of Concerned Scientists researcher David Friedman projects that driving a 40 m.p.g. car "would be the equivalent of offering a $600 annual tax break from reduced fuel costs."

Such figures are necessarily hypothetical, depending on a number of variables such as the cost of a barrel of oil. There also are political considerations: the safety of an SUV compared with a smaller hybrid, as well as jobs in the domestic auto industry, which has been hurting recently.

Administration opposes universal increase

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta warned about a universal increase in fuel efficiency for all new cars. "Substantial increases in CAFE standards under the current single standard approach would increase fatalities on America's highways, raise healthcare costs, and reduce employment," he said in a recent letter to congressional leaders.

As with the new CAFE rule for light trucks introduced in March, the Bush administration prefers a "size-based" system, setting separate fuel economy targets for each vehicle based on its dimensions.

"Under a size-based system, automakers will still be able to build the cars consumers want, but those cars will have to be more fuel efficient across the board," Secretary Mineta told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Thursday. "A size-based system ensures that all manufacturers are introducing fuel-saving technologies, not only the manufacturers of larger vehicles."

Enacted in 1975 in the wake of the 1973 Arab oil embargo, CAFE requires US automakers to meet an average fuel economy level of 27.5 miles per gallon. Domestically manufactured cars have become more fuel efficient since then, but are not nearly at the level as their foreign rivals.

Now, the number of vehicles on US roads is more than 200 million. These include SUVs, vans, pickups, and other relative guzzlers lumped together as "light trucks," which don't have to meet the same standard.

"While vehicle fuel efficiency has improved, vehicle miles traveled has increased an average of about 1.7 percent per year for the past 30 years with a net result of little impact on energy conservation," said Frederick Webber, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers at a House committee hearing last week.

Passenger cars now account for 23 percent of US domestic oil consumption, according to Mineta. At a time of war in Iraq, rumors of a possible war with Iran, and political changes in other oil-producing countries (such as Bolivia, which just announced that it will nationalize its oil and gas resources), that increasingly highlights the need for conservation as well as more fuel-efficient vehicles.
In Washington Friday, a bipartisan group of five senators introduced legislation that would offer government loan guarantees and grants to automakers and parts manufacturers. The bill would speed up development of vehicle technology designed to conserve fuel. This includes using lightweight materials, being able to plug in and recharge batteries of gas-electric hybrids, and making alternative fuels more available around the country.

Another bipartisan bill would raise the CAFE standard for cars and light trucks to 33 m.p.g. Rep. Edward Markey (D) of Massachusetts, one of the bill's sponsors, has pointed out that the fleetwide average fuel economy peaked in 1987 at 26.2 miles per gallon, and is now below 25 miles per gallon.

States sue for increase in gas mileage

Meanwhile, pressure to increase gas mileage is coming from other quarters as well.
Ten states last week sued the federal government for gas mileage requirements that they say are too low for SUVs and pickup trucks. (The states are: California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. New York City and the District of Columbia also joined the suit.) Around the country, political leaders in 227 cities from New York to Los Angeles have signed the "US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement," which commits them to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Gasoline-burning motor vehicles are a prime emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas that most climate scientists say is causing global warming. There has been "a continuing, steady rise in the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported recently in its Annual Greenhouse Gas Index.

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