Environment

Wolves: Their Own Worst Enemy?

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Wolves may be in the crosshairs as the Alaska Board of Game debates predator control measures statewide — but a new report finds that the controversial carnivores may be their own worst enemy. A wolf cull is, for some, “a good thing,” notes the Anchorage Daily News; “for others, it is very bad.” Alaska’s aerial predator-control program, not to mention hunting and trapping by licensed citizens, claim about 1,250 wolves annually, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. However, studies by wildlife biologists in Denali National Park show that “at least” 60 percent of dead wolves are killed, and sometimes cannibalized, by other wolves from rival packs. The National Park Service monitors the area’s 18 wolf packs with the help of radio collars placed on the alpha male and female pairs of each pack — the animals most likely to be killed in a territorial battle.

Economy

Diamond Dilemma in Botswana

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Botswana is moving ahead with plans to build a state-of-the art diamond cutting facility — at a time when declining diamond sales are threatening the jobs of thousands of miners. Government officials see the facility, which will expand the types of diamond processing in Botswana, as a path to economic diversity, reports The Voice of Francistown. Even as the officials rave about the possibilities of the high tech diamond park, its Debswana Diamond Company — a joint venture with South Africa’s De Beers Group — is meeting with the mine workers union to discuss mine closings and layoffs throughout the country. Worldwide diamond sales are down in the face of the global recession, and Botswana’s economy is hurting. Diamond mining is Botswana’s economic mainstay, and the source of most of the country’s funding for development and public health.

Featured

Divisions of Kosovo

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Since Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, the fledgling country is at peace — but struggling with severe poverty and unemployment, along with simmering ethnic tensions in the mostly Serbian north. Photo: Kosovo Serbs/jungle/arctic

Nation

L.A. Targets Health Insurance Revocations

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The Los Angeles City Attorney’s office is investigating whether insurance companies have unfairly or illegally revoked the health-insurance policies of more than 8,000 Californians. California Lawyer Magazine reports that the practice may also threaten about 3 million middle-class Californians. In some cases, sick and dying patients lost their health insurance due to alleged “misstatements” made on already-approved applications. These include weight changes or the omission of prior conditions sometimes unrelated to a patient’s costly illness. Insurance companies said they are protecting their businesses against consumer fraud, and that their side of the story is not well publicized due to privacy laws for patients.

Environment

Health Fears for Navy Dolphins, Sea Lions

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The United States Navy plans to use dolphins and sea lions — which can detect underwater saboteurs at night — to protect submarines at a base near Seattle. The Los Angeles Times reports that animal activists are concerned that the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins, which are unused to such cold water, will suffer in the Puget Sound. Dolphin biologist Toni Frohoff told the newspaper that some of the Atlantic dolphins were captured in the Caribbean and that “they don’t have the physiology to adapt” to 45-55 degree water. At one of two public hearings in Seattle, the Navy offered to heat the dolphins’ holding pens, but critics said the temperature fluctuations might compromise their health in the long run. The Navy has a total 78 dolphins, 27 sea lions and one beluga, all of which are highly trained and can physically help capture trespassers.

World

Renewable Energy Gets Global Boost

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A lot of global energy went into the creation of a new international agency that aims to promote a clean and green world — but many environmentalists fear the effort may not be enough. Inter Press Service reports that some 75 nations endorsed the creation of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in January — excepting China and the United States, the world’s biggest polluters. Funding and staffing is also a concern. IRENA’s $25 million budget is just a tenth of that of Greenpeace International, according to the environmental advocacy group. There is also a question about how much clout IRENA can have without official status as a United Nations organization.

Environment

Salmon Imports May Bring Banned Chemicals

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The Pew Environment Group recently obtained documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showing that Chilean salmon farmers are using chemicals and medications banned by regulators in the United States and Europe. Chile is America’s biggest suppliers of salmon and the second largest exporter of salmon in the world, reports PR Newswire. The farms — including Chile’s two largest salmon producers — are using the antibiotics flumequine and oxolinic acid, plus emamectin benzoate, a pesticide, to treat salmon destined for foreign markets. People who eat fish treated with antibiotics may develop resistance to the drug, making them vulnerable to certain types of bacterial infection, according to the report. Emamectin, the pesticide, is known to be “very toxic to aquatic organisms” and harmful to the environment.

World

Kosovo: A Brittle Peace?

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One year since Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, the fledgling country is at peace but struggling with severe poverty and unemployment. Economic challenges, corruption and lawlessness persist, especially in the mostly Serbian north. While interactions between Serbs and majority Albanians have remained non-violent, Deutsche Welle reports that “ethnic tensions and conflicts are still bubbling below the surface.” On February 10, thousands of Serbs gathered in Mitrovica to protest Kosovo’s mostly Albanian security forces. Pieter Feith, the EU’s representative to Pristina, said the protest “highlights the continued fragility of the situation on the ground.”

World

Russia Plans New Military Bases Near Georgia

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A plan to open military bases in the contested province of Abkhazia could threaten Georgia and extend Russian military power abroad, reports Eurasianet.org. Russia is working to restore an old Soviet air base in the breakaway Georgian region, and plans to open a naval base on the Black Sea as well. Abkhazia’s separatist government welcomes the bases due to what Russian military officials call the “threat of … terrorist attacks by Georgian special services.” Yet the new bases shine a more strategic light on Russia’s support for Abkhazian independence.

Economy

An Asian Tiger Comes (House) Hunting

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A group of Chinese tourists in America may go home with the ultimate souvenir: a house. The China Daily, published by China’s Communist Party, reports that more than 300 Chinese have signed up for a 10-day house-hunting trip organized by real estate Web site, Soufun.com. Potential homebuyers are capitalizing on low prices following the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis and the current global recession. The trip costs roughly 25,000 Yuan, or $3,500 and will target houses in the $400,000-$700,000 range, focusing on metropolitan areas with large numbers of ethnic Chinese in states such as California, Nevada and New York. Those interested include real estate professionals looking for cheap investment opportunities and parents of children studying in the United States.