One effect of the accord, for example, is to give credit-rating agencies an explicit role, particularly for less sophisticated Banks, in determining how much capital is enough to cover certain risks.

It is becoming increasingly clear that inland water systems play an important role in the global carbon cycle, in spite of the fact that they only cover 3 percent of the land area of the Earth.

The evident anger in Congress is fuelling demands for a full blown investigation in to the CIA's failure to disclose the programme and Cheney's role in the cover up.