With its strict vehicle emission standards and government support for alternative-fuelled vehicles, it is little wonder that California is becoming a hotbed for electric cars. Germany's BMW is set to export electric versions of its Mini models to the state, according to sources quoted in Automotive News. The sources claim that 490 Minis will be built in Oxford, England, shipped to Germany to have electric powertrains fitted and then leased to customers in California. This falls under BMW's newly created Project i division, which is working on low-emission cars for the German manufacturer.

The Renault- Nissan $1USbn investment project on electric cars seems to have opened up a number of avenues for the Franco-Japanese alliance. Industry sources revealed that the alliance will be entering a partnership with Portugal to create a national network of zero-emission electric vehicles in Portugal.

The recording industry and the six largest ISPs in the UK have agreed on a deal to curb illegal file-swapping: notification letters, but no enforcement, and the ISPs won't have to spy on their users. It's the best deal we could have hoped for... unless it's only a first step.

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Software developer Vignette Corp.'s bottom line moved into negative territory in the second quarter.

U.S. companies likely will keep pay raises steady in 2009, according to a survey by Arlington, Va. consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. (WW)

Is the Dark Knight too violent for a PG-13 rating? It's an interesting question, and one that no one thinks the government needs to think about. Why then, do some many politicians think the government needs to be involved in gaming? Ars Technica looks at content, context, and a recent New York law.

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Filed under: Carbon Offset, Green Daily, UK

In this day and age of increased environmental awareness, not even motorsports are granted exclusion from the eco-friendly expectations which all companies and organizations are held to. Of course, it's not just the racing itself that causes carbon emissions, as the fans attending the event need to travel in order to get there. In fact, as you can see from the graph below, when race organizers for the upcoming Wales Rally GB in December did some fact-finding, they found that the race vehicles accounted for just 5-percent of the 4,333 metric tons of overall CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. In order to make the actual race the first carbon neutral FIA Rally event, organizers have instituted car-pooling for officials and marshals as well as replacing battery-powered flashlights with wind-up alternatives and planning full-scale recycling. The remaining CO2 will be offset through credits from The CarbonNeutral Company.

The Wales Rally GB is already looking towards the future. The event believes that it can significantly reduce the amount of CO2 emitted from the event in the coming years, lessening the amount of offsets necessary to remain carbon neutral. After all, it's better not to emit in the first place than to cover it up afterward.

[Source: Wales Rally GB via Automotive News - sub. req'd]

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The Times asked Timothy William Waters, who helped prepare the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes in Kosovo, to comment on the significance of Radovan Karadzic’s arrest.

Sirius and XM still in final talks with the FCC about that merger, including making amends for all those wayward translators.

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Just days after surgical products maker ArthroCare Corp. said it would have to restate its financial results going back to 2006, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says its looking into the matter.