Wisconsin: Frigid weather good news for long underwear retailer

There's nothing like dangerous cold to make at least one shop in Madison a hot destination.

Business has been steady at WinterSilks at 224 State St., which makes sense as the retailer specializes in long underwear.

"In a sad way, it kind of works out because it's so cold," said sales associate Kate Knudsen.
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The bump in business is nice, Knudsen said, but it still doesn't make the staff fans of the bitter cold.

"Our manager is in Florida right now," Knudsen said. "So I don't think she's that thrilled."

Arctic weather hits Alabama

Forecasts called for temperatures ranging from 10 to 15 degrees, but some northern counties saw temperatures in the single digits.

CHAD: Panic, outcry at government charcoal ban

N'DJAMENA, 16 January 2009 (IRIN) - A government ban on charcoal in the Chadian capital N’djamena has created what one observer called “explosive” conditions as families desperately seek the means to cook.

“As we speak women and children are on the outskirts of N’djamena scavenging for dead branches, cow dung or the occasional scrap of charcoal,” Merlin Totinon Nguébétan, head of the UN Human Settlements Programme (HABITAT) in Chad, told IRIN from the capital. “People cannot cook.”

“Women giving birth cannot even find a bit of charcoal to heat water for washing,” Céline Narmadji, with the Association of Women for Development in Chad, told IRIN.
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“Chadians must find other ways to cook and forget about charcoal and wood as fuel,” Environment Minister Ali Souleyman Dabye recently told the media in N’djamena. “Cooking is of course a fundamental necessity for every household. On the other hand...with climate change every citizen must protect his environment.”