Stories for July 14th 2006
Penguin News Update
Headlines:
School head walks out; £3.8 million loan for patrol vessel; 50,000 cruise visitors forecast.
International conflicts pushing oil closer to 80 US dollars
Oil prices hit a new high closing price of 76.70 US dollars a barrel on Thursday as international tension heightened in several fronts with analysts not ruling out 80 US dollars a barrel in the coming days.
Storms kill 15 and leave Chile short of energy
The storm of rain and wind that is ravaging central and southern Chile has left 15 people dead, six missing and 30.000 homeless according to the latest reports Thursday from the National Emergencies Office in Santiago.
Bus burning rampage by criminal gangs in Sao Paulo
Urban buses returned to the streets of Brazil's major city Sao Paulo late Thursday after having suffered violent attacks during three nights running and following guarantees of special protection from elected authorities and police forces.
Panda sanctuary and Tequila area in UN World Heritage sites
Giant panda sanctuaries in China, a tequila-producing area in Mexico, a millennia-old irrigation system in Oman and renaissance palaces in Italy are among 18 new sites admitted to the World Heritage List of humanity's outstanding natural and cultural legacy, bringing to total to 830, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
South Indian Ocean Fisheries Accord
Faced with a marked increase in fishing on the high seas, six countries have signed an agreement covering a vast area of the South Indian Ocean in what a United Nations official has hailed as a major step forward in conservation and sustainable fishing.
89% of Chileans feel they will be crime victims
A National Urban Survey on Citizen Safety in Chile released this week in Santiago found that more than half the population fears going out at night because of crime.
Slow season for minke whales, admits Norway
Norway's whaling fleet will catch only half of its quota this season. The government set a quota of 1052 minke whales, (up from 797) but so far only 444 have been landed, reports BBC.
New limits on contaminants in fish, squid and mollusks
Measures to keep cancer-causing and other toxic contaminants, such as lead and cadmium, out of the human food chain have advanced a step further with the adoption of new limits by a United Nations commission that is the world's highest body on food standards.
