"We understand there are real limitations with the plan. Moreover, Iran's leadership has made clear that implementation of the plan is dependent on no [UN] Security Council action."
US ambassador Gregory Schulte told reporters, citing Tehran's "continued refusal" to implement the International Atomic Energy Agency's additional protocol on wider inspections. Iran and the IAEA agreed Tuesday after two days of talks on a timetable for Tehran to answer outstanding concerns about its contested nuclear program

"We will look at the pluses and minuses, including to greenhouse gas emissions, of the process of collecting the chopsticks, carrying them to facilities and then producing the biofuel."
Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ministry official Toyohisa Aoyama said. Japan will try to turn the millions of wooden chopsticks that go discarded each year into biofuel to ease the country's energy shortage. Biofuels are seen as an alternative clean energy resource that can reduce dependence on Middle East oil and lessen the impact of global warming.

Updated: August 22, 2007