DETROIT, Michigan, Oct 5 (AFP)
Despite advances in vechicle technology, US driving habits have kept the nation�s average fuel economy from improving, according to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The agency�s just-released figures for the 1999 model year that ended September 30, show that the average for all models was 23.8 miles per gallon � the poorest showing since 1980 and a drop of one mile a gallon since 1996.
�All of the fleet-wide improvement in new light vehicle fuel economy occurred from the middle 1970s through the late 1980s, but it has been consistently falling since the late 1980s,� the report said.
EPA cited the increased popularity of more powerful vehicle engines and light-duty trucks � in particular larger pickups and sport utility vehicles � as responsible for increased fuel consumption and offsetting improvements in other areas.
Under federal law, the US Department of Transportation sets the standards for each model year. The DOT had requested an improvement in light truck standards as high as 35 percent above 1999 levels.
Fuel economy standards set by the federal government are not likely to change for the 2000 model year, since the US senate on September 15 decided the issue should be further studied.
Currently, the average fuel economy standards for a manufacturer�s fleet of cars in the US is 27.5 miles a gallon while truck standards are lower, at 20.7 miles a gallon.
Auto companies selling vehicles in the US have enjoyed a selling boom in sport utilities, pickup trucks and some minivans which fall in the lower fuel economy standard.
DaimlerChrysler recently released a statement noting its super-performance Mercedes M55 sport utility does not qualify for car standard fuel economy, as stated in some news reports.
And Ford Motor Co. is capitalizing on the boom in large truck popularity by bringing out the biggest-ever, personal use version called the Excursion that is even larger than General Motors� Suburban model.
Following the oil crisis in 1973, US auto makers responded by offering smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles to consumers. The national speed limit also was lowered to 55 miles an hour to help conserve fuel.
Car companies also responded by intensifying development of vehicles and engines that used less fuel and produced fewer air pollutants. Some of those gains resulted from engine developments, more aerodynamic vehicles and a drastic reduction in vehicle weight.
�Fuel economy has increased by over 100 percent since the 1970s,� said Gloria Bergquist, spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in Washington, D.C.
�But the fact is the price of gasoline is very low today and the economy is very good,� she said.
For years, American drivers have been paying far less for vehicle fuel than their European or Asian counterparts, with gasoline rarely approaching the 2 dollar a gallon mark. During 1999, vehicle fuel prices fell below 1 dollar a gallon and only in recent weeks have moved higher.
Few analysts expect a switch to lower fuel consumption vehicles barring some sort of major catastrophy.
�In the 1970s, there was the oil embargo and that�s when CAFE (corporate average fuel economy standards) was enacted,� said Bergquist.
�Today, consumers care about fuel economy, but they are placing the importance of other things higher. It could be having more space for the kids or towing a leisure vehicle.�
Weather conditions and the feeling of safety and security, particularly for women, also are widely credited for the growing populity of sport utilities and other larger four-wheel drive vehicles.
But Bergquist said that vehicles now are so much lighter and fuel efficient, only about 6 percent are capable of towing a boat or another vehicle, unlike the 1970s when about 70 percent of autos on the road could be used for towing.
Upcoming hybrids, such as Toyota�s combination gasoline-electric Prius are expected to make gains in the near future that could cause a major improvement in fuel economy standards once enough of them are sold. Some of those vehicles at least 70 miles to a gallon.
And Bergquist downplays the idea that vehicle makers are withholding advanced technology as sometimes is reported.
�I�m bemused when I hear that (auto makers) are holding back,� said Bergquist. �They are so competitive, if anybody had (advanced) technology, they�d race to the market with it.�
Hilary Skeels
London, Oct 6
(THE GLOBE)
At 8.11 Tuesday morning, two packed commuter trains crashed in Ladbroke Grove, West London, minutes away from Paddington Train Station.
The larger train, arriving in London from Cheltenham, Gloucester, apparantly drove straight through the smaller one, bound for Bedwyn, in Berkshire.
One passenger commented : � It was like being on a roller-coaster without a seatbelt.�
Fire caught quickly in the wreckage, hampering rescue attempts, compounding passenger injuries and welding parts of the two trains together. Due to the extreme mangling and distortion of the trains, the death toll was hard to ascertain, but on Tuesday evening the final count was 26. 149 people have been hospitalised, 29 with serious injuries and burns. Among the passengers on the train was best-selling author Jilly Cooper, who managed to escape uninjured.
John Prescott, UK minister for transport, paid a visit to the site of the accident on Tuesday afternoon. He reasassured the gathered press that the investigations had begun and that a full public enquiry would be made.
However, despite these words of reassurance, few will be able to forget the Southall train disastor which took place only 2 years ago on the very same stretch of track, killing 7 people.
MOSCOW, Oct 6 (AFP)
The Kremlin defended itself Wednesday against a burgeoning US money-laundering investigation that has already lead to three indictments, and accused Washington of playing political games that may leave Russia bankrupt.
President Boris Yeltsin�s personal envoy to the G7 group of leading industrial nations said Washington policy-makers were blinded by biased US media coverage of charges that Russia laundered up to 15 billion dollars through New York banks.
Alexander Livshits said Russia had thus been unfairly stripped of a promised 640-million-dollar payment from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urgently expected here this month.
�One thing is to investigate specific people and specific companies,� Livshits told NTV television. �But our IMF talks should not go like this. I think that a political factor is influencing� the IMF.
Livshits was responding to news from New York that US federal prosecutor had obtained indictments against three people and brought charges against three Russian companies in connection with a vast money-laundering scandal.
The charges accuse Peter Berlin, Lucy Edwards and Alexei Volkov, as well as the companies Benex, BECS International and Torfinex of involvement in a scheme to launder nearly seven billion dollars through the Bank of New York (BoNY).
According to US, British and Italian reports the investigation has also zeroed in on at least 12 current or former members of Yeltsin�s government.
These included Yeltsin�s daughter Tatyana Dyachenko, former economy chief Anatoly Chubais, banker Vladimir Potanin and Livshits himself.
The weight of the allegations prompted US lawmakers to call for a freeze for future IMF payments to Russia until the allegations are cleared up.
IMF decided to delay the latest tranche payment after a visiting Moscow delegation failed to explain away the charges last month.
The Fund has loaned some 20 billion dollars to Russia this decade. Washington media reported that nearly half of that sum was laundered through New York banks.
The scandal has dragged down relations between Moscow and Washington to near post-Cold War lows and prompted Livshits on Wednesday to defend the Kremlin even while no Moscow official has yet been charged with a crime.
�We have to clear this up, explain to them what is really happening in Russia, and try to restore normal relations,� Livshits said.
Moscow media this week further reported that another bank linked to the money-laundering investigation � the Republic National Bank � will shut down all of its Russian bank correspondent accounts effective October 18.
�In effect this amounts to the creation of a financial cordon sanitaire around Russia,� the Sevodnya daily opined on Wednesday.
Konstantin Kagalovsky, Russia�s former IMF negotiator and husband to a BoNY executive suspended after the scandal broke, also charged Washington of engaging in election politics that nothing to do with the investigation at hand.
�Our main problem is that there is not a single Russian congressman or senator on Capital Hill,� Kagalovsky told Sevodnya.
But the five-week-old controversy had also left the Kremlin enfeebled and seen it become the target of barbs from nearly all political corners
�Clearly games are being played, but there is never a fire without smoke,� said general Alexander Gurov, a former Moscow police chief and one of the leaders of the Unity movement.
�Our government is moving too slowly on this. Instead they are playing media games. We have to put an end to the pillage of our country,� Gurov told NTV.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
© 1998 IPA House. All Rights Reserved.