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Monday, April 29, 2013
Sci-Tech Campaign to save Barrier Reef from industry
2013 Nissan Altima recalled
SYDNEY (AFP) - Conservationists Sunday accused Australia of failing to protect the Great Barrier Reef from massive industrial development as they launched a multi-million dollar campaign to drum up awareness. The move follows UNESCO demanding decisive action to protect the world's largest coral reef from a gas and mining boom and increasing coastal development, or risk the embarrassment of seeing it put on its danger list. The government says it is "absolutely committed" to the reef and in February outlined
to UNESCO how it planned to improve management and protection. UNESCO's World Heritage Committee will consider the response at its annual meeting in Phnom Penh in June. In the lead-up to the meeting and in an election year, the Australian Marine Conservation Society and WWF-Australia launched an advertising blitz to highlight increased "dredging, dumping and shipping in the marine park". "The reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, but our governments seem to have forgotten that fact," said
Google boss sees autocrats' pushback against Internet WASHINGTON (AFP) - Life in authoritarian states is likely to get tougher before it gets better as their citizens gain more access to the Internet, Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt said. Speaking at a seminar in Washington, Schmidt said hundreds of millions of people in non-democratic nations will be trading in their basic cellphones for Internet-connected smartphones as prices fall over the next few years. "When that happens, all of sudden, we are going to hear the distinct voices of the citizens of those countries in a way that we've never heard before," said the globe-trotting Schmidt, a recent visitor to North Korea. "But their governments are not like our governments... In that context, (autocratic) governments are going to work really, really hard to stop this, because the way to really get a dictator going is to threaten his authority. "But their governments are
not like our governments... In that context, (autocratic) governments are going to work really, really hard to stop this, because the way to really get a dictator going is to threaten his authority."They're going to do things like restrict speech and restrict assembly -- but they are going to find it impossible to do as comprehensively as they can," he added. This "mobile revolution" will become "the defining story" for the 57 percent of the world's population that lives in autocratic countries over the next five to 10 years, he predicted. Schmidt delivered the keynote speech at a Googlesponsored "big tent" seminar, the first ever in the US capital, that cast a spotlight on freedom of expression in the digital age. Other seminar participants included the outgoing US deputy secretary of homeland security, Jane Holl Lute, a champion of a free and open Internet despite the way it can be exploited by extremists.
Bob Irwin, father of late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, who is the face of the TV, radio, online and newspaper campaign. "The reef belongs to all of us, not to big industry to use as a dredge, dumping ground and shipping superhighway. The Australian people are the only ones who can make a difference to protecting the reef." Australia is riding an unprecedented wave of resources investment due to booming demand from Asia, with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of resource projects in the pipeline. Last year, UNESCO said the sheer number and scale of proposals, including liquefied natural gas, tourism and mining projects, could threaten the reef's status. The Australian Marine Conservation Society's Felicity Wishart claimed the Queensland state government was fast-tracking mega ports along the reef and planned to dredge and dump millions of tonnes of mud and rock in its waters. "In 2012, less than half a million tonnes of dredge spoil was dumped in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. In 2015 it's predicted that figure will explode out to 23.5 million tonnes -- a massive 50fold increase," she said. "The Great Barrier Reef is a major tourist destination generating $6 billion a year and supporting 60,000 jobs. No one is going to want come half way around the world to see mega industrial ports." According to WWF-Australia, recent polling it conducted showed 91 percent of Australians think protecting the Great Barrier Reef is the country's most important environmental issue in 2013. The Queensland government was not immediately available to comment.
-- Nissan is recalling certain model year 2013 Nissan Altimas due to a spare tire issue, which may result in the tire being over-or under-inflated. Affected by today’s recall are 123,308 model year 2013 Nissan Altimas built between March 21 and March 26, 2013. The vehicles in question may contain spare tires that have been considerably over-or under-inflated. As a result, tires that are over-or under-inflated may suddenly fail, increasing the likelihood of a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.