The train also is expected to bring fuel oil from Umm Qasr to Baghdad to power electric plants in the Iraqi capital.

CNN: Bush calls end to 'major combat'

Growing such crops as switchgrass not only absorbs carbon, but also produces a fuel that some power plants can use instead of oil, coal or gas.

ECONOMIST: The rise of the sink | The

As part of the deal to build the new power plants, America promised to supply 500, 000 tonnes of fuel oil a year to North Korea until the first reactor was completed, in around 2003.

ECONOMIST: North Korea