Semaine 2: Surfers against Sewage find dirty secret at Britain's 'cleanest'
beaches
The Guardian, Friday 6 August 2010
At least one in four of Britain's premier bathing beaches are failing to meet the strict
requirements of their "Blue Flag" designation, freedom of information requests to local authorities
and beach operators have found.
The result is that tens of thousands of bathers who believe they have been swimming in
Britain's cleanest waters may have unknowingly been exposed to raw sewage, according to
pollution watchdog group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). The beaches in question have no system
in place to monitor daily sewage pollution or to warn people if an overflow occurs. SAS says they
should be stripped of their status.
Only 131 beaches in Britain have been awarded the coveted Blue Flag status, an
international standard that is only granted if beach operators meet more than 30 strict criteria. Local
authorities, who compete to get the coveted designation, pay more than £600 a year to be allowed to
fly the blue flag.
But SAS research seen by the Guardian shows that 35 of the 131 beaches cannot possibly
meet criterion 28 of the Blue Flag code. This requires beach operators to warn the public during and
after emergency pollution events, such as a sewage discharge. According to the FoI requests made
by the group, many local authorities responsible for accredited beaches do not ask for any data from
water companies on combined sewage overflow spills, where heavy rain causes sewers to flood and
discharge into the sea.
The 35 beaches named today by SAS include some of the most popular in Britain. There are
20 in England, including Polzeath and four others in Cornwall, Woolacombe and one other in
Devon, Margate and four others in Kent. A further nine beaches in Wales, three in Scotland and
three in Northern Ireland were named.
Last night Andy Cummins, SAS director, called for the 35 beaches to lose their Blue Flag
status. "It is a major concern that these 35 beaches could have the Blue Flag flying while the public
could unwittingly be swimming around in raw sewage discharged from nearby combined sewer
overflows. Pathogens associated with sewage polluted waters include ecoli 0157H, hepatitis A, and
gastro enteritis.
"We have had many calls from people saying that they used Blue Flag beaches and who said
they became very ill. It's impossible to prove that they have been made ill by pollution picked up
there, but we have compelling cases of incidents impacting on people's health."
The Blue Flag Programme is a worldwide initiative run by independent non-profit group,
Foundation for Environmental Education, based in Denmark. There are Blue Flag beaches in North,
Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, New Zealand and throughout Europe. (444
words).
Semaine 3: Airbus tankers for the US Air Force
Defense Update, February 29th, 2008
US Air Force Selects KC-45A as KC-135 Replacement
The U.S. Air Force announced the selection of Northrop Grumman to build its nextgeneration air-refueling tanker aircraft. The estimated $35 billion program calls for the production
up to 179 new KC-45A tankers, to be built over the next decade. The KC-45A is based on the A330
Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) system, built by Airbus, a division of the European
aerospace giant EADS. Northrop Grumman teamed with EADS to introduce the MRTT as a
competitor to the US built KC767 proposed by Boeing. Northrop Grumman stressed that although
the A330 is a European aircraft, the KC-45A will essentially be a US built aircraft – as it is
supported by 230 domestic suppliers contributing about 60% of the platform's content. Furthermore,
the program will support more than 25,000 jobs in the USA. According to Northrop Grumman the
manufacturing and support infrastructure for the KC-45A will create a new 'aerospace
manufacturing corridor' in the Southeastern USA, creating 2,500 new jobs in and around Mobile
Alabama, where the new aircraft will be assembled.
According to the US Air Force the KC-45A will introduce a significant increase in
performance, compared to the current KC-135. Furthermore, as a secondary role, it will be able to
fly passengers, cargo, casualties and fuel over long distances. The aircraft will therefore expand the
U.S. air force's flexibility to support operations in distant theaters.
The Boeing Company filed a request to receive an immediate debriefing. According to Mark
McGraw, vice president - 767 tanker programs, their proposal should have been lower than the
competitor, "Based on values disclosed in the Air Force press conference and press release, the
Boeing bid, comprising development and all production airplane costs, would appear to be less than
the competitor" he said. Boeing viewed the tanker competition as 'must win' top priority program.
Quite understandably, reactions have been particularly strong in states where Boeing
employs many workers. For instance, Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt has watched the ebb and
flow of this tanker process since the first contract fell through six years ago. Saturday, he hit the
airwaves on KNSS radio to try to help listeners piece together why the Department of Defense
awarded the $40 billion tanker contract not to American-owned Boeing, but to its European rival
Airbus.
"I'm very disturbed that we are taking American tax dollars and not creating American jobs,"
explained Tiahrt. "It's very upsetting." (400 words).
Semaine 4: EasyJet's profit warning hits airline stocks
PETE HARRISON/Reuters/March 19, 2008/The Globe & Mail, Toronto
British budget airline EasyJet sparked a sell-off in European airline shares on Wednesday
when it warned record fuel costs would erode its full-year profit if they didn't fall soon.
“It is pretty obvious that if the recent significant rise in the fuel price is maintained then our
second-half profits will be lower than we had previously expected,” said easyJet Chief Executive
Andy Harrison.
Europe is in a tug of war for jet fuel, road diesel and heating oil – all members of the same
family of middle distillate fuels – with other global consumers, especially the booming markets of
Asia.
Prices for these fuels could fall, however, if their benchmark, ICE London gas oil futures,
see a seasonal decline with the end of the heating season in the northern hemisphere.
More generally, the price and availibility of oil are influenced by a series of factors. Labor
strikes, hurricane threats to oil platforms, fires and terrorist threats at refineries, and other shortlived problems are not solely responsible for the higher prices. Such problems do push prices higher
temporarily, but have not historically been fundamental to long-term prices increases.
One more long-term fundamental cause of rising prices is that global oil production will
decline at some point, leading to lower supply. This is because there is a limited amount of fossil
fuel, and the remaining accessible supply is consumed more rapidly each year. Increasingly,
remaining reserves become more technically difficult to extract and therefore more expensive.
Eventually, reserves will only be economically feasible to extract at high prices. Others claim that
oil producers, afraid that overproduction of oil may lead to price drops such as those of the early
1980s, have held back on the search for new oilfields.
The effect that rising oil prices have on a market is not directly proportional to the cost of
crude oil. For example, while crude oil prices increased 400% from 2003-2008, United States
gasoline prices did not rise by the same amount. This is because the profits of distributors and
retailers, production costs (such as refining, transportation), and taxes are all part of the price of
auto fuel.
In the developed countries of western Europe, the prices of transport fuels are made up of
the price of the refined product, plus a substantial tax element, which can vary between roughly 2/3
and 3/4 of the total price. (in the UK nearly 70% of the price of a litre of petrol is made up of fuel
duty and VAT. A doubling of the oil price would add perhaps 30% to the cost of fuel at the pump in
the UK, if the duty was not changed.) (439 words).
Semaine 5: Danube in danger: toxic timebombs from Soviet years put region at
risk
The Guardian, Tuesday 12 October 2010
From the Black Forest to the Black Sea, the Danube meanders for almost 1,800 miles
through 10 countries, its course punctuated by areas of great beauty and industrial disasters waiting
to happen.
The torrent of toxic sludge devastating tracts of Western Hungary near Kolontár and the risk
of heavy metals leaching into the great waterway have highlighted the dangers posed by the rusting
heavy industrial plants lining the river's banks.
"There are a string of disasters waiting to happen at sites across the Danube basin," said a
spokesman for the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The organisation has used EU data and studies to compile lists and maps of pollution hot
spots in the Danube area. Hungary has many vulnerable industrial sites but so do Serbia, Romania
and Bulgaria.
In Hungary, anxiety is focused on another red sludge reservoir on the banks of the Danube at
Almásfüzitő, 50 miles north of Budapest. The waste here is similarly produced by turning bauxite
into aluminium. Seven pools hold 12m tonnes of hazardous waste, including an estimated 120,000
tonnes of heavy metals.
With 83 million people inhabiting the 19 countries that form the Danube basin, the river is
the lifeblood and artery of central and south-eastern Europe.
Many of the threats to the river's health are part of the legacy of communism. Soviet bloc
regimes promoted heavy industry including the mining of bauxite, uranium and gold and placed
large oil refineries along the waterway with scant heed for the environment.
Romania occupies a third of the basin, by far the biggest national chunk, and is seen as
particularly problematic.
It is home to the most extensive and precious wetlands in Europe, the Danube delta, which is
judged especially vulnerable.
The biggest goldmining project in Europe is underway in Romania, also using cyanide
extraction methods.
Despite the alarm about the environmental risks, experts say things are improving. Until
2004 only two Danube states, Germany and Austria, were in the EU. The figure is now eight,
meaning that stiffer European regulations and standards governing mining safety, industrial plant
licensing and pollution are in force.
"It's good to have better regulations but implementation is always a problem. That's what
we've seen in Hungary," said Andreas Beckmann, Danube project co-ordinator at the WWF.
He said there had been huge progress in improving environmental disaster zones across the
region since the collapse of communism in 1989.
"Many areas were also left relatively untouched. If there are great wildernesses left in
Europe, they are in the east not the west." (421 words).
Semaine 6: Binge drinking 'increases risk' of dementia
The Observer, Sunday 10 May 2009
Heavy drinking may be to blame for one in four cases of dementia. Doctors have linked
alcohol intake to the development of the brain-wasting condition in between 10 and 24% of the
estimated 700,000 people in the UK with the disease.
They warn that binge drinking and increased consumption are likely to produce an epidemic
of alcohol-related brain damage in the future, which could see drinkers starting to experience
serious memory problems in their 40s.
Women who drink a lot are at much greater risk than men of suffering problems with their
cognitive functions, because they are physiologically less well able to cope with alcohol's effects.
Dr Jane Marshall, one of the co-authors and consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital
in south London, said: "People think that dementia is something that happens to people over 65. But
a lot of those under 65 have got cognitive problems and a large proportion of the problems in that
group are related to alcohol. Alcohol-related brain damage may account for 10-24% of all cases of
all forms of dementia. We know that alcohol is associated with serious cognitive impairment. It
reduces memory and general cognition," she added.
"Drink is more likely to help induce dementia in women than men because women have less
body water and more body fat, which means that they metabolise alcohol differently and so are
more vulnerable," said Marshall.
However, a heavy drinker of either sex who abstains from alcohol can expect to see brain
cells regenerate and improvements in key areas of brain activity.
Gayle Willis of the Alzheimer's Society said: "We know that the prolonged use of alcohol
can lead to memory deficiencies. Only one third of the people with Alzheimer's are diagnosed, but
the problem of under-diagnosis of people with alcohol-related memory impairment could be even
greater." But the society believes that only a handful of all cases of dementia, perhaps as few as 3%,
are directly attributable to alcohol.
Marshall and her colleagues examined Korsakoff's syndrome, a little-known form of
dementia linked to alcohol intake, characterised by short-term memory loss, changes in behaviour
and confusion. It is increasingly common in Scotland and the Netherlands, especially among poorer
people with poor diets. One study of sufferers found that half were under 50.
Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: "It is really
concerning that awareness among clinical staff of this important link between alcohol and dementia
remains poor, yet detection of early signs often gives a real chance of successfully heading off the
condition. It is vital that we improve understanding among doctors and nurses about the links
between heavy drinkers and neurological damage. Equally important is that people understand that
alcohol-related brain damage can strike at any time of life." (459 words).
Semaine 7 : Gang shoots up buses in Juarez; 4 dead
The Houston Chronicle, October 29th, 2010
In the first attack of its kind in more than three years of gangland terror, gunmen in the
border city of Ciudad Juarez opened fire early Thursday on two buses carrying employees of a U.S.owned factory, killing four people and wounding 14 others.
The employees were heading home following their evening shift at about 1 a.m. when the
killers struck near the small village of Caseta, near the Rio Grande southeast of Juarez. The
assailants forced a man off one of the buses and then opened fire on the other occupants,
investigators said.
The dead included three women and a man, all employees of Eagle Ottawa Leather, a firm
headquartered in a Detroit suburb that makes upholstery for automobiles.
State investigators and the trade group representing Juarez's 324 foreign-owned factories called maquiladoras - said the attack appeared targeted at the man who was kidnapped rather than at
Eagle Ottawa or its employees in general.
"We understand it's a situation related to drugs," said Carlos Miranda, executive director of
the Maquiladora Association in Juarez, which shares the Rio Grande with El Paso.
Still, the attack marks the first time the wave of gangland violence has directly hit one of the
foreign-owned firms anywhere in Mexico. And executives on both sides of the border were reevaluating the risks Thursday.
"If in fact this is a new trend, it's not good for industry," said Nelson Balido, president of the
San Antonio-based Border Trade Alliance, to which many of the companies with border factories
belong. "Maquiladoras have not been directly attacked like this."
State officials announced Thursday afternoon that they will increase police escorts and other
security measures for the factories and their employees, especially those leaving night shifts.
Mexican officials claim that most of the more than 6,500 people killed in Juarez since
fighting erupted in early 2008 have been gangsters or somehow related to the underworld.
But a rising number of innocents also have died, including 13 adolescents massacred at a
Juarez house party last Friday and 15 others gunned down at a similar celebration in January. The
parents of many of those victims, and likely of their killers, work in the foreign-owned factories.
"The criminals, in their murderous and irrational barbarity … kill without mercy or
scruples," President Felipe Calderon said in a speech Wednesday, responding to a series of
massacres nationwide in the past week that have killed more than 50 civilians. "Nothing justifies
their actions."
Juarez's assembly plants churn out car parts, electronics and other consumer goods, almost
entirely for the U.S. market. The factories' more than 190,000 employees make up 60 percent of
Ciudad Juarez's private sector payroll. Many assembly-line workers earn $100 or less for a full
week's work. (453 words)
Semaine 8 : Meet Western Australia's teenage whale rider: 14-year-old Sam
Matheson
The Australian, October 30th, 2010
The Australian can today reveal the boy who climbed on to and rode a whale off Middleton
Beach in Albany, 420km south of Perth, last month was Sam Matheson, 14.
The Albany Senior High School student's actions sparked a Department of Environment
investigation and made headlines in the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand even Ghana.
But speaking publicly for the first time since the incident, the keen surfer, fisherman and
motorcross rider said he regretted climbing on to the whale.
Sam said, in a spur-of-the-moment decision to see how close he could get, he swam out to
the 14m whale, stroked it and then lifted himself on to the animal for about 30 seconds. He did not
realise swimming within 30m of a whale was illegal or dangerous, he said.
"I was down at the beach with my mate Shayden. The whale was right there, only about 10
or 15m from the rocks. It's not that often that a whale comes so close. I wanted to seize the
opportunity and have a closer look," he said.
"It didn't even notice me until I laid on it. Then it lifted up its tail, it went under and it pulled
me down at bit, but I was fine and I swam back to the rocks.
"I didn't even think I'd done anything wrong until I saw the news and all the stories on the
internet. It was on CNN. It was everywhere. If I had known it was illegal I wouldn't have done it."
His mother, Tammy Smit-Sell, 35, said Sam was "not a delinquent" but had an adventurous
spirit.
"He's not bad. Misunderstood maybe but not bad. He's not a delinquent but he is gutsy," Mrs
Smit-Sell said.
"He's grown up around the ocean, he loves the ocean. He loves surfing, fishing and diving.
Sam would never even keep an undersize fish, let alone harm a whale. He's been taught to take care
of the ocean. He's done what most people have only dreamed of doing.
Sam said he weighed only 57kg and didn't think the whale would notice him. He estimated
the whale was about 14m in length and 4m wide. "There was no malicious intent. I like fishing, but
besides that, I would never hurt anything in the ocean," he said.
Wildlife officers were alerted when a beach-goer took a photo of Sam on the whale and
reported the incident. Mrs Smit-Sell said she wanted to thank the woman for not releasing the
photo.
Department of Environment and Conservation regional manager Mike Shephard said
officers had interviewed Sam, who was remorseful, and issued him with a warning. (438 words).
Semaine 9 : War hero 'victim of Victoria Cross quota system'
The New Zealand Herald, September 18th, 2010
World War II hero Haane Manahi missed out on a Victoria Cross because of an informal
"quota" system and Britain's highest-ranking officer overruling recommendations, a new book
claims.
Lance-Sergeant Manahi's leadership led to the capture of 200 enemy soldiers in April 1943
at the taking of Takrouna - an imposing 200-metre-high fortification held by German and Italian
forces in Tunisia. The action was one of the Maori Battalion's most celebrated.
The 29-year-old was recommended for the VC - the highest military honour - for his role by
seven officers, including the commander of the New Zealand forces, Lieutenant-General Bernard
Freyberg, and the British commander Bernard Montgomery.
However, he was instead awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal the following month.
In a biography to be released next month, Victoria Cross at Takrouna: The Haane Manahi
Story, historian Paul Moon writes that the chairman of the VC committee and Chief of the Imperial
General Staff, Lord Alanbrooke, held the final decision on who was awarded the medal.
Moon writes that an informal quota system meant giving Manahi a VC at virtually the same
time as Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu was awarded the medal posthumously is likely to have
swayed Alanbrooke.
The book also makes a point of looking at whether atrocities were committed, specifically
Maori soldiers throwing their enemies off ledges. Moon says it is a nasty accusation that entered the
historical record well after the fact by way of lazy historians.
"I examined it, I looked at the evidence. If there was any hint of a war crime it would have
been recorded in enemy archives. There was nothing."
Manahi's death in 1986 aged 72 galvanised supporters into lobbying successive
Governments and Queen Elizabeth for a posthumous award. They were only partly successful as the
Queen refused to change her father's policy that no more VCs for deeds in World War II be
awarded after 1949.
Instead, in 2007, in recognition of Manahi's bravery, Prince Andrew on behalf of his mother
gifted him a special citation for bravery, an altar cloth, letter and sword.
Massey University's Dr John Moremon said it was generally accepted by historians that war
crimes were committed at Takrouna but Manahi was not implicated. Anyway, he did not have
orders to take Takrouna Ridge on April 19, 1943. Instead, the Maori Battalion B Company lancesergeant was part of a small group of soldiers who were to create a diversion at the base of the 200metre-high outpost.
Finding someone to blame for the VC controversy served no purpose, when so many did not come
home. "Honour him for what he did regardless of what medal ended up on his chest." (440 words)
Semaine 10 : Bilingualism: A failed policy?
The Globe and Mail, March 30th, 2009
If learning French is a luxury in English Canada, most people in Quebec consider learning
English a necessity. Yet Quebeckers know they are playing with fire. You'd be hard-pressed to find
a Quebecker who does not feel he or she has been personally and professionally enriched by
learning English. But when census data show, as they did in December, that mother-tongue
Francophones now make up less than 50 per cent of the population on the Island of Montreal, and
less than 80 per cent of Quebec's population for the first time since the 1930s, it gets a people
thinking in survivalist terms. It gets a newspaper such as Le Devoir to write this headline: "Historic
retreat of French in Quebec."
The issue gets framed — more or less — in these terms: Without a thriving Francophone
metropolis at its core, Quebec will be reduced before long to some kind of Louisiana.
Each of the solitudes maintains a tortured relationship with the language it doesn't speak
first. English Canada needs the French fact to distinguish itself from the United States, but
apparently not enough to become truly bilingual. Quebec needs to learn English to thrive in North
America and avoid a retreat into isolation, but fears that each step out of its shell might deprive it
from the option of going back.
It's got reason to be afraid. That is what has happened everywhere else, from New England
to Saskatchewan. Four decades of official bilingualism have done nothing to alleviate that threat. It
never could, or can. And so we are borne back ceaselessly into our mutual unilingualism.
But there is more. Newly released census figures suggest that Canada's official-languages
policy and the vitality of the French language are under increasing pressure outside Quebec.
There are nearly as many Canadians with a non-official language as their mother tongue as
there are Francophones, while the peak rate of bilingualism for Anglophones living outside Quebec
has dropped again.
For the first time, Allophones – those who speak neither English nor French as their first
language – represent fully one-fifth of the population. The numbers jumped to 20.1 per cent from 18
per cent in the last census, driven primarily by immigration. Conversely, the proportion of
Francophones and Anglophones decreased slightly after population growth is taken into account.
This will be no surprise for Canadians in many parts of the country. For several years,
Chinese has topped French as a first language in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. However,
Experts are quick to note that allophones speak about 200 languages and are not a homogeneous
group. Francophones still represent about one-quarter of the population; people who report Chinese
as their mother tongue represent 3.3 per cent of the total population. (452 words).
(Partiel en semaine 11, rendu en semaine 12)