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Government data on auto accidents must be made public, a court has ruled, turning aside opposition from industry groups that wanted to keep information about catastrophic equipment failures under wraps.
Photo: Mind’s Eye
Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“I don’t ever again want to be reading another report into high death rates at a maternity unit.” — Sir Ian Kennedy of Britain’s Healthcare Commission, on declining maternity-ward services (see “Public Health,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Car crash data must go public, court rules
Newspaper guild alleges retaliatory layoffs
*War Crimes*
On the run: Accused Balkan war criminals remain at large
*Public Health*
Europe: Birth rate down, maternity wards packed
*Water*
A grassroots water grab in California
TOP STORIES
* Car Crash Data Must go Public, Court Rules
The public will have access to previously secret government data about serious car accidents, a court ruled this week. The decision, by the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., found that the National Highway Safety Administration may not withhold so-called Early Warning data about serious accidents collected from manufacturers of automobiles, tires, child car seats and other related industries.
A plan to build a skyscraper in New York City — one that contains 30 stories of farmland — might have a chance of being realized. The Telegraph reports that city officials are considering a proposal to build a high-rise that could produce food for 50,000 city residents. The proposed building, designed by Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University’s public health school, is the latest “vertical farm” to be suggested. Urban farming is undergoing something of a renaissance; Newsdesk has previously reported on programs taking root in South America, Europe and the United States. However, “vertical farms” remain unrealized, and a report on the NextEnergyNews Web site about a 30-floor agricultural skyscraper planned for Las Vegas turned out to be a hoax.
With plastic waste clogging landfills and choking waterways, degradable bioplastics are raising hopes for a solution. Yet they may not be quite so quick a fix, and even the word ‘bioplastic” isn’t always what it seems.
Photo: Idiolector
Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“Just because it’s biodegradable does not mean it’s good.” — Peter Skelton of the U.K.’s Waste and Resources Action Program, on bioplastics (see “Plastics,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
U.S. Fourth Fleet returns, heads south
Monsanto loses Canadian GMO dispute
*Plastics*
Bioplastics: Friend or foe? *Japan*
Memories of old Japan stir island dispute
TOP STORIES
* U.S. Fourth Fleet Returns, Heads South
Some Latin American nations are wondering if the return of the U.S. Navy’s Fourth Fleet to their coastlines signals the return of “gunboat diplomacy” as well, Agence France-Presse reports.
From the Rocky Mountains to Japan and Australia, beer-brewing companies are adopting practices that aim to reduce waste, as well as energy and water use, by tapping into wind power, using spent grains for fuel and livestock feed, and recycling extensively.
Photo: Justin C. Lenk
Zimbabwe’s controversial re-election of President Robert Mugabe is bringing new pressure on South Africa to resolve the conflict, and raising military tensions with neighboring Botswana. Leaders of the G-8 and several African nations scolded South African Prime Minister Thabo Mbeki at a meeting in Japan Tuesday, saying his efforts to mediate Zimbabwe’s political crisis are not working, the Mail & Guardian of South Africa reports. With violence against the Zimbabwean opposition escalating, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are pushing for harsher sanctions. However, some African leaders, including Mbeki, warned against sanctions they said could potentially destabilize Zimbabwe, resulting in civil war. At a press conference during the G-8 summit, Tanzanian president and African Union chairman Jakaya Kikwete and President Bush agreed to an additional meeting on the subject in August.
Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“You can’t fly planes on photovoltaic panels.” — Researcher Harvey Blanch on “second generation” biofuels that he says don’t compete with food crops (see “Energy,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Colombia’s disappeared return to view
Immigration: Filipinos in EU spotlight
The other kind of green beer
*Africa*
Zimbabwe troubles may bust borders
*Energy*
Fly the cellulose skies: Will second-generation biofuel take off? TOP STORIES
* Colombia’s Disappeared Return to View
Thousands of Colombians who have “disappeared” over the decades were commemorated in prose and pictures at a June conference in Bogota on political kidappings, Inter Press Service reports.
In recent months, China has has redoubled its suppression of dissent in the face of public unrest and protests over a wide range of issues — including the Sichuan earthquake, the Olympics and Tibetan independence, police brutality and even public health concerns such as hepatitis.
Photo: Chinese police officer/mashrom
Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“A common refrain in the messages we have received from members since the Web site was shut down is: ‘I love my country but my country doesn’t love me.'”
— Lu Jun Lu runs a Chinese Web site for people with hepatitis that was shut down by the government over protest concerns (see “China,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Medical bills spur India suicide plan
Pumped up for public water
For forests under fire, a slight return
*China*
A million mutinies now
*Carbon Tax*
Canada in heated debate over global warming tax
TOP STORIES
* Medical Bills Spur India Suicide Plan
A woman stricken with kidney disease and her husband have petitioned a municipal official in Kolkart, India to allow them to commit suicide. The Times of India reported that Swapna Das and husband Biswanath Das wrote to the district magistrate asking permission to die together because of health care costs they find staggering. She is on dialysis, which costs 6,000 rupees or U.S.$138, and cannot afford a kidney replacement.