London, May 6 (IANS) "Girls Aloud" star Cheryl Cole has landed a fashion deal with an exclusive US boutique.

Los Angeles store Kitson has approached Cole to design her own line exclusively for the company, Contactmusic.com reported.

"This will be huge for Cheryl. Obviously she's already a big star in the UK but she's not a household name in America. This will change everything," a source said.

"Kitson is one of the most popular shops in L.A. and is a favourite among celebrities. It's one of the coolest boutiques, so for Cheryl to be offered her own range with her name at the helm is fantastic news."

"The creators want to use her song title 'Fight For This Love' as the name for the range and are hoping she can design dresses and shoes as well as handbags. They are also wanting her to model the collection herself," the source added.

US carbon-dioxide emissions dropped 7 percent in 2009  Text

Washington, May 6 (DPA) US emissions of carbon dioxide tumbled seven percent in 2009, government figures have showed, marking the largest one-year decline in the heat-trapping gas blamed for global warming since records began in 1949.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Wednesday attributed the sharp fall to a drop in energy use as the United States battled through its worst recession in decades, coupled with a smaller 2.3-percent drop in the "carbon intensity" of energy sources.

US carbon pollution had fallen annually on average just 0.9 percent over the last decade, amid improved energy efficiency and a slow transition to cleaner energy sources. Carbon-dioxide emissions rose 1.4 percent per year during the 1990s, according to the EIA.

The US and China together emit about 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gases, in which carbon dioxide is the chief component.

President Barack Obama has pledged to reduce US emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, but legislation toward that goal has stalled in the Senate.

Brazil to invest $540 bn in energy projects  Text

Brasilia, May 6 (IANS/EFE) Brazil will invest 951 billion reais ($540 billion) in energy projects over the next nine years, state-owned Energy Research Corporation has said.

Around 70 percent of the investment will go into oil and natural gas projects. Exploration and production projects will get $287 billion in funding, allowing Brazil to double its production of crude oil from the current two million barrels per day to nearly 5.1 million barrels per day by the end of this decade.

A report released by the energy corporation Wednesday said a total of $85 billion is being spent on five new refineries already under construction by state-owned oil giant Petrobras. One refinery project is in Peruvian capital Lima.

The supply of natural gas is expected to soar 67 percent by the end of the decade, rising from 49 million cubic meters per day in 2010 to 116 million cubic meters per day, the report said.

With nearly 30 million cubic metres per day of gas imported from Bolivia and 21 million cubic metres per day of liquefied natural gas purchased from others, Brazil will have a daily surplus of 15 million cubic metres per day of gas in 2019, the Energy Research Corporation said.

The power projects should give Brazil an average surplus of 5,800 MW by 2014, leading to a "pretty calm" situation, the report said.

Some $38 billion will also be spent on biodiesel and sugarcane ethanol projects.

Ethanol production in Brazil will rise 250 percent to 64 billion litres annually by 2019.