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  • 14/02/2003

congestion levy: Driving in London during peak hours could soon be a taxing experience. City authorities are planning to introduce a levy to ease traffic jams in the capital city. Drivers would have to pay a congestion tax of US $7 during rush hours or risk a fine of more than US $55.

liquid sop: The Bush administration has evolved the Water Quality Trading Policy system. Under this system, industries which discharge industrial, municipal or agricultural contaminants into waterways will be allowed to reduce their discharges below federal clean water standards. They can then trade the unused portion of their allowance as credits to those polluters who are trying to meet water quality standards.

drug cleared: The US Food and Drug Administration has given consent for the use of Prozac - the well-known antidepressant drug to treat depression and obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD) in children. Depression affects 25 per cent of children and about eight per cent of adolescents in the US, and OCD affects 2 per cent of the population.

kremlin imperils kyoto: Russia's inability to ratify the Kyoto Protocol could cripple the international pact on curbing global warming. Experts feel that the delay in ratification would cost Moscow billions of dollars. After the withdrawal of the US from the protocol, Russia's green light to the pact is crucial.

radiation shield: A house painted with cowdung could be the most potent protection against radiation. Difficult to digest? But if the Uttar Pradesh Gau Seva Ayog is to be believed, cowdung has powerful anti-radiation qualities.

pm's polio thrust
The star campaigner for the second phase of the Pulse polio programme in Uttar Pradesh (UP) will be none other than Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In a last-ditch effort to give an impetus to the drive in the state, Vajpayee will reportedly administer polio drops to children in Lucknow on February 9, 2003. According to Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh, state minister for medical services and health, this decision was taken at a high-level meeting of chief ministers from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP on January 16, 2003.

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