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With a razor-thin margin of just seven votes, the House of Representatives on Friday evening passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act - the first bill to put a fixed and declining cap on U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions. Republicans and Democrats in the House spent much of the day sparring in sharp language over the bill, which will reduce U.S. carbon emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% below by 2050. In the end, the vote of 219 to 212 included more than 40 Democrats who broke ranks with their party's leadership to vote against...
...bill's passage is a palpable victory for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama - who both made a last-minute push to snap wavering Democrats back in line - and a landmark for the environmental movement. "The American Clean Energy and Security Act is the most important environmental and energy legislation in our nation's history," said Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). "Today's vote is a huge achievement for the country and the climate." (Watch TIME's video: "The Truth About Wind Power...
...however, that balancing act no longer seems possible. In the state's current fiscal crisis, California's public schools stand to lose $5.3 billion on top of $7.4 billion in cuts last year. Superintendents and school boards foresee teacher layoffs, increased class sizes, the loss of computer labs and libraries and, in some districts, insolvency. Superintendent Ramon Cortines says the Los Angeles Unified School District will lay off more than 2,500 teachers...
...U.S.S. John McCain, an Aegis class destroyer, has been tailing the freighter and will be replaced now by the U.S.S. McCampbell as the Kang Nam 1 nears the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, perhaps the world's biggest maritime pit stop. The city-state's government says it will act "appropriately" should the vessel call at its port with illegal materials on board. According to South Korean press, the Kang Nam 1 will need to refuel soon. (See pictures of North Korea's rubber-stamp elections...
...already led to much farmer distress. Instances of farmer indebtedness and suicide, already frequent, could go up. Although experts point out that there is no immediate threat to India's food security after last year's bumper crop last year, low yields could make the proposed Food Security Act, new legislation that aims to provide poor families with a legally enforceable right to food, practically difficult to implement. The effects are being felt beyond the farms in urban areas as well, which are reeling under water and power shortages due to declining water levels in reservoirs that provide both water...