Study: A Fairer Way to Cut Global CO2 Emissions

At the end of the year, governments from around the world will meet in Copenhagen hopefully to hammer out a new treaty — the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 — to reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions. Their lack of time aside, diplomats face a very large, very immovable hurdle on the way to a new Kyoto. Developed countries like the U.S., which refused to ratify the original treaty, are responsible for most of the CO2 in the atmosphere — and more than a century of industrialization has helped make them rich — which would indicate that they should shoulder the lion’s share of future emissions reductions.

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Why Sarah Palin Quit: The Five Best Explanations

When Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced her intention to resign on July 3, many assumed there must be a looming scandal. Why else make the surprise announcement late in the afternoon before the July 4 holiday — the equivalent of a news black hole — in tones that varied from angry to anxious?

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A town in fear as a killer is hunted

In this rural South Carolina town, a few summer schools began Monday, businesses opened following the July Fourth weekend, and the 13,000 residents sought to go about their business as usual. But the town — and the rest of Cherokee County, total population about 50,000 — is gripped with fear. Over the past nine days, a serial killer has left five people dead, police say.

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U.S. ‘hits the pause button’ on aid to Honduras

The United States put some teeth in its diplomatic signals to Honduras Thursday, stopping some aid programs temporarily to the Latin American country as it grapples with its two-president crisis. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States already “hit the pause button” on some aid programs, even before State Department lawyers make a final ruling on whether to halt assistance.

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