SPB News for Tuesday.

Breaking: Hong Kong's H-Shares Index Down 10.4% to 12,119.80

Biggest FTSE crash since 9/11 wipes off more than £75bn in shares The stock market went into meltdown yesterday with the biggest fall in share prices since 9/11. More than £75billion was wiped off the value of Britain's 100 biggest companies amid fears of a recession in the U.S. It is the worst start to the year for the stock market since records began in 1936 and left the Bank of England facing acute pressure to slash interest rates.

France Says New Iran Resolution Imminent The U.N. Security Council's five permanent members and Germany are expected to agree Tuesday on a new resolution to pressure Iran over its nuclear program, a French diplomat said. The senior diplomat, who briefed reporters Monday on condition that he not be identified by name, said an agreement was very close and should be finalized by the six nation's foreign ministers at a meeting in Berlin, Germany.

'The memo forbid employees traveling abroad from discussing climate change and its impact on polar bears.' Bears on thin ice in this White House (The Republican) Executives in board rooms of America's Big Oil companies must have given each other bear hugs when the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service announced earlier this month that it would delay a decision on whether polar bears need protection under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming. At the same time, the Interior Department said it would move forward with plans to sell the drilling rights to oil under the Chukchi Sea - a prime bear habitat - on Feb. 6...

The Bush administration agreed to consider more federal protection for the polar bear in December 2006... Shortly after that decision, the administration sent a memo to the Fish and Wildlife Service's Alaska division with the title, "Foreign Travel - New Requirements - Please Review and Comply, Importance: High." The memo forbid employees traveling abroad from discussing climate change and its impact on polar bears. Even without the drilling, a U.S. Geological Survey report says that two-thirds of the polar bear population will be gone by 2050.

Israel Is Set to Promote the Use of Electric Cars Israel, tiny and bereft of oil, has decided to embrace the electric car. On Monday, the Israeli government will announce its support for a broad effort to promote the use of electric cars, embracing a joint venture between an American-Israeli entrepreneur and Renault and its partner, Nissan Motor Company.