US considers protocol `dead'

Washington - The US administration is investigating the repudiation of the Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gas emissions following the announcement by President Bush that he would no longer pursue curbs on CO2 emissions, writes Patrick Smyth. The protocol, whose signature has been repeatedly opposed by Congress, is now dead as far as the US in concerned, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Ms Christine Todd Whitman, has told journalists - a statement likely to enrage EU countries still committed to the process.