To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: News: Freeing poor nations from $220B burden
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 10:09:46 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

Freeing poor nations from $220B burden

Copyright 1998 by Christian Science Monitor
Wed, 23 Dec 1998

A book of the Old Testament is inspiring a global grass-roots movement
aimed at giving a fresh start to the world's most impoverished
countries by the year 2000.

Taking its lead from the ``year of jubilee'' proclaimed in Leviticus,
a coalition led by faith-based organizations - Jubilee 2000 - is now
active in 45 nations pressing for cancellation of the poor nations'
international debt.

``People are motivated and moved by the biblical roots of this
campaign,'' says Carole Collins, US coordinator for the effort. ``In
the vision of Jubilee,'' says an Episcopal Church paper on the
subject, every 50 years, ``'right relationships' are restored, social
inequalities are rectified, slaves are freed, and debts are
canceled,'' in recognition of God as the provider of all.

-----edit-----

--- BPR

BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: Y2K Headlines
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 11:06:19 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

GLOBAL Y2K "PEACE CORPS" PROPOSED
Link: http://www.idg.co.nz/nzweb/c242.html

DEFUSING THE Y2K BUG
Concerned that the Year 2000 computer bug might accidentally set off
a nuclear war, the U.S. and Russia are hammering out an agreement to
station experts in each other's nuclear command centers next year to
prevent miscalculations that could kill millions of people.
Link:
http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaystory?1998/12/12+326.raw+World

Y2K SUPPLIERS GO INTO HIDING
Link: http://www.y2knewswire.com

ONE IN THREE LARGE BRITISH FIRMS ALREADY HIT BY Y2K
Link:
http://www.computerweekly.co.uk/cwarchive/daily/19981217/cwcontainer.asp ?name=C1.html

WILL THE BIGGEST Y2K THREAT COME BEFORE 2000?
Link:
http://webserv.vnunet.com/www_user/plsql/pkg_vnu_comp.top_ten?p_story_id =71995&l_to_date=23-DEC-98

Y2K CARD FIX FOR PCS
Link:
http://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/09e1552169f2a5dcca2564610027fd24/2563 bc5223e75b6c4a2566dc0079fe5a?OpenDocument

2,000 TEXANS GET FALSE OVERDRAFT NOTES IN Y2K TEST
Link: http://detnews.com/1998/technology/9812/17/12170189.htm

Y2K PROBLEMS MAY PUT DAMPER ON NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTIES
Link: http://www..com/bostonherald/bhbusiness/y2kparties121698.htm

----------
HOARDING NOT ILLEGAL...YET
(Source: Y2KNEWSWIRE, 12/18/98)

Last week, in an effort dispel a number of nagging Y2K-related rumors,
Y2KNEWSWIRE asked readers to send them any information about
anti-hoarding laws. Based on the evidence they received, Y2KNEWSWIRE
has arrived at the following conclusion: hoarding food is currently
not illegal, but ALL "food resources" can be confiscated if the
President declares a national emergency. According to Executive Order
10998, "'Food resources' mean all commodities and products...that are
capable of being eaten or drunk by either human beings or animals...at
all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products in
vendible form." So when people refer to "anti-hoarding laws," what
they're probably really talking about this Executive Order and the
idea that once a national emergency is declared, almost anything is
possible.

There is still no conclusive evidence to confirm or deny that: newer
cars will not function in the Year 2000; it is illegal to own military
rations; the San Francisco power outage was Y2K related. (JG)

Executive Order:
http://forums.cosmoaccess.net/forum/survival/prep/10998.htm
----------

SCARED INTO SILENCE ABOUT YEAR 2000
Link:
http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/bhbusiness/y2ksilence12211998.htm

----------
STATE Y2K SITES
(Source: Gary North, GARY NORTH'S Y2K LINKS AND FORUMS, 12/22/98)

For up-to-date information on Y2K preparations on a state-by-state
basis, the U.S. Federal Government has created the YEAR 2000
INFORMATION DIRECTORY. Exhaustive, exhausting and very thorough. (JG)

Link: http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/mks/yr2000/state.htm
----------

wild2k (Y2K):
http://www.wild2k.com/

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: News: Russia and anti-Semitism
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 13:46:14 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
(Government Press Office)
27 December 1998

-----edit-----

Ma'ariv, in its third editorial, writes that the statement by the
Russian Justice Ministry that it will take steps against the
distribution of anti-Semitic literature by communists should not
detract from the seriousness of "venomous exhortations" of Communist
Party leader Gennady Zhuganov. He is not another "extremist nutcase",
but the leader of the largest party in Russia and a candidate for
president. His rantings comparing Zionism to Nazism are falling on
fertile ground in Russia's days of crisis. "It seems that once again
Russia's Jews are sitting on a barrel of gunpowder and a single match
could cause a pogrom."

  [pogrom--an organized massacre of helpless people:
  specifically: such a massacre of Jews.
  Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary]

Information Division, Israel Foreign Ministry - Jerusalem
http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il
gopher://israel-info.gov.il

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: Dec 28, 1998 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 09:48:31 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

8:00 PM Eastern

 FOX - WORLD'S GREATEST HOAXES: SECRETS FINALLY REVEALED -
   Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, UFO sightings and alien
   autopsies are debunked; narrator Lance
   Henriksen.(CC)(TVPG)

 HIST - ANCIENT INVENTIONS - Ancient man imagines
   innovations.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

 DISC - HISTORY OF THE S.S. - Filmmaker Andrew Mollo traces
   origins and actions of Hitler's secret police through
   interviews with surviving members and their
   victims.(CC)(TVPG)

 HIST - MODERN MARVELS - "Clocks" - Relativity of time;
   earliest clocks; atomic clock system.(CC)(TVG)

--- BPR

BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: Free European Union videos
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 11:31:14 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

FREE EDUCATIONAL VIDEO SERIES
Sponsored by The European Union Delegation

Video #1 - AN EVOLVING UNION (4 parts - 38 Min.)
*Jean Monet, Father of Europe (1988) - 12 Min.
*1992 and Beyond (1992) - 12 Min.
This program follows four EU member country nationals who are
collaborating on the production of a CD recording featuring cellist
Catherine Ramsey.
*ENLARGEMENT: East/Central Europe (1998) - 4 Min.
The scenario for enlarging the membership of the EU to include
countries in Eastern and Central Europe.
*Who Runs The Union? (1996) - 10 Min.

Video #2 - ECONOMIC CHALLENGES - (4 parts - 60 Min.)
*One Currency For Europe (1996) - 9 Min.
*HIGHLIGHTS OF Europe at the Millennium: New Members, New Currency,
*Agenda 2000 (1998) - 22 Min.
The Environment at the Center of E.U. Policy (1993) -12 Min.
*EUROBIZ (1997) - 17 Min.
An overview of the impact of European Monetary Union on Citizens,
Business and Public Administration is told through the eyes of a
television production team assigned to produce a series of
documentaries on the subject.

Video #3 - TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS - (2 parts - 53 Min.)
*Extraordinary Partners: The European Union and the United States
(1996) - 27 Min.
*TIES & TENSIONS: EU-US Relations In The Next Century -27 Min.

Video #4 - EUROPE AND THE WORLD - (4 parts - 52 Min.)
*PHARE, the E.U. Aid Program for Eastern Europe (1993) -22 Min.
*ECHO (1994) - 12 Min.
This program explains the work of ECHO, the agency established to
bring a coordinated European humanitarian response to immediate
crisis situations.
*From Yaounde to Mauritius: A History of the Lome Convention (1996) -
5 Min. Dating from the convention of Yaounde I to Lome IV, it is a
story which has developed over 40 years, reuniting 70 countries in
Africa, the Carribean and the Pacific (ACP) with the 15 member states
of the European Union.
*Refugees in Central America (1995) - 13 Min.

Video #5 - EUROPEAN ABC - 20 Min.
*European ABC: The European Union (1996) - 6 Min.
This overview of the European Union shows its growth from 6 to 15
member states since 1952, gives basic statistics on the European
Union, and explains common policies fostering economic integration.
*European ABC: The Institutions (1996) - 6 Min.
Description of the composition and work of the institutions of the
European Union, as well as the systems for decisionmaking.
*European ABC: The Single Currency (1996) - 4 Min.
*European ABC: External Relations (1996) - 4 Min.

AVAILABLE IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES ONLY.

(Each video contains the described parts on one videocassette - NTSC
format.)

http://www.karolmedia.com/resources/free/freepgs/eunion.htm

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: News: 'Smart' shirt/Cell revitalization
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 09:13:16 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

'Smart T-shirts' can sound the alarm
(USA Today 12.29.98)

A computer T-shirt woven with fiber optics and electrically conductive
thread may soon monitor the health of soldiers, rescuers, the elderly
and others who are medically vulnerable.

Fiber-optic shirt
Shirt tales: Sundaresan Jayaraman invented the technique used to sew
fiber optics into garments. He calls the shirt 'a computer
motherboard' (USA TODAY).

The "smart T-shirt" was developed by the government as a potential
tool for pinpointing soldiers' injuries and helping medics decide whom
to treat first on the battlefield.

The shirt can tell when a bullet has ripped into the body, where it
went and how badly the wearer has been wounded. It can send an
emergency distress signal that includes its exact location, and it can
transmit vital signs and loads of other digital information.

The military is studying the shirt's possibilities for the
battlefield. But because the technology behind the shirt is now
available to the public, the $30 garment could be worn by nursing home
patients, firefighters or police within months of a group's request,
its inventors say.

"This is one of the genuine breakthroughs for the next century," says
researcher Sundaresan Jayaraman. He led a team at the Georgia
Institute of Technology's School of Textile and Fiber Engineering in
finding a way to sew fiber optics and conductive fibers into a shirt
without cutting the cloth.

This technique was key to turning out a shirt made of high-tech
communication fibers that make up a wearable network. Jayaraman calls
the shirt "a computer motherboard."

The military version will have a pager-size processor that analyzes
sensor data and transmits it via satellite. Any kind of computer chip
could be plugged into the shirt, allowing the wearer to surf the Web
or an employer's computer to track a worker's every move.

But the medical applications have driven the development.

As pajamas, babies could be monitored for signs of sudden infant death
syndrome.

To examine a diseased heart, doctors could outfit their patients with
a Doppler device that could monitor blood flow all day.

People at home after surgery could be monitored closely by medical
professionals miles away.

Those are just a few of the uses inventors have heard about. They
expect that others will find many more uses than they can imagine
today.

"The real applications will come from out there," says another of the
inventors, Eric Lind, a Navy engineer from Sparwar Systems Center in
San Diego.

The shirt, called a sensate liner, was developed with about $400,000
of research money, most from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA). As the military's "out-of-the-box" research
arm, DARPA was looking for ways to use high-tech tools to save more
lives on the battlefield.

Specifically, the agency wanted to find a high-tech way for medics to
know when a soldier was shot.

"We were working on a wristwatch that sends back blood pressure and
just got carried away," says Richard Satava, who headed the project.

He says the shirt may save lives on the battlefield by allowing medics
to triage victims from afar, applying their skills to those who need
them most first and not wasting time on those who can't be saved.

To do this, the medics must be able to "see" the victims sooner.

The shirt will send data via satellite to a medic in the field and to
a surgeon anywhere in the world within moments after a bullet or
shrapnel tears through it. When a fiber is broken by a bullet, the
computer kicks into high gear, turning on a slew of sensors.

The shirt will identify the impact point and turn on sensors around
the area. These sensors will detect blood flow.

At the same time, paper-thin plastic microphones are turned on to
capture sound waves as the bullet tears through.

By firing various types of bullets into gelatin with the consistency
of the human body, scientists have mapped a distinctive sound they
think will be repeated when a person is shot. The shirt will record
the sounds within the body from various angles and create a computer
image that shows medics and doctors where the bullet went.

Combined with the other sensor information, this internal view of the
possible damage can launch the triage process long before a medic can
reach the injured.

Military officials hope this kind of technology can help save the
soldiers who today die needlessly while medics run from one victim to
the next.

In cities across the USA, police and firefighters may benefit from the
shirt, too.

Police could benefit from the shirt just as it would be used on the
battlefield. But the firefighting industry is already talking about
the shirt as a possible digital layer of protection during a blaze.

Firefighters often die from heart attacks during a fire. The physical
exertion combined with the adrenaline rush of the high-risk job can
mask early warning signs until it's too late.

Monitoring their vital signs from a command center might help safety
officers see when firefighters are getting into trouble and pull them
to safety. The global positioning feature would help commanders find
firefighters if they did go down in a burning building.

Scott Baltic, editor of Fire Chief magazine, says the shirts also
could help in an ongoing effort to outfit firefighters with
temperature sensors.

Firefighters who are burned to death are sometimes the victims of the
quality of their modern gear. Their heat protection is so good that it
does not allow them to sense that a room is about to explode.

Firefighters used to know when temperatures were nearing the point of
flashover, when the air becomes so hot that all of the combustibles
ignite simultaneously, because part of their body would burn.

"They used to know how hot it was based on how much their earlobes
hurt, or they would take a glove off and see how long they could leave
their hand out there," Baltic says. "Now they're going in with such
good protective clothing" that they can't always tell when the room
they're in is about to burst into flames.

"There is a real need for sensors," Baltic says.

For now, the T-shirt inventors say there are only a few prototype
shirts for testing, but clothing companies are considering mass
production.

The military can use the technology to make its own shirts for free,
but private companies must buy a license for the textile technology
from Georgia Tech.

Jayaraman says that if a fire department or other group wanted to buy
shirts directly from his team, they could be delivered within weeks.

*******
Study Reveals Cell Revitalizer is Safe
(USA Today 12.29.98)

Cells doctored with a ''cellular fountain of youth''
remain young and vigorous even after surviving more than 200
times their normal life span, research out today shows.

Authors of the study, which appears in the journal
Nature Genetics, say their finding should allay scientists'
major fear about ''immortality'' research: that boosting
cells with the substance might end up turning them into cancer.
Scientists aren't touting cell immortality as a way to
help humans live forever, but they say it holds promise for
evaluating drugs and developing treatments for cancer
and age-related ailments.

Prophezine News Bites
http://www.prophezine.com

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: Weekend News Today items (12/29/98)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 09:37:00 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

Israel election date set

Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire

Tue Dec 29 , 1998 -- The date for Israel's upcoming national elections
has been set for May 17th, the 2nd of Sivan, four days before the
Shavuot holiday. So determined the Knesset Law Committee today, after
representatives of the two large parties, the Likud and Labor, agreed
on the date last night. MK Rabbi Laizerson (United Torah Judaism)
objected to the date on the grounds that "the week before the Festival
of the Receiving of the Torah is not the proper time for holding
elections."

Nentanyahu visits the Wall to commerate Jewish history

Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire

Tue Dec 29 , 1998 -- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday
visited the Kotel on the fast of the 10th of Tevet. The day of fasting
marks the beginning of the siege on Jerusalem prior to the destruction
of the First Temple. While at the wall, journalists asked the prime
minister what he thought of the remarks made on Monday by Foreign
Minister Ariel Sharon, stating he would run for prime minister under
"exceptional circumstances", the prime minister shrugged off the
question, stating it was not appropriate for the location. Mr.
Netanyahu stated that he was making the visit to the Kotel to draw
"spiritual strength from Jewish history."

Economic losses and deaths made 1998 a black year for natural
catastrophes

Weekend News Today
By Kelly Pagatpatan
Source: (AFP)

Tue Dec 29 , 1998 -- 1998 was a black year for natural catastrophes,
which claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people around the planet,
the world's largest reinsurer Munich Re said on Tuesday. Economic
losses as a result of the catastrophes exceeded 90 billion dollars in
1998 compared with only 30 billion dollars in 1997 when 13,000 people
lost their lives as a result of natural disasters. 1995 had seen the
highest economic losses ever--of 180 billion dollars--due to the Kobe
earthquake. Munich Re recorded more than 700 "large loss events" in
1998, compared with between 530 and 600 during recent years. The most
frequent natural catastrophes were windstorms (240) and floods (170),
which accounted for 85 percent of the total economic losses. A cyclone
in the west Indian province of Gujurat in June was the severest in
human terms, claiming more than 10,000 lives. And Hurricane Mitch led
to more than 9,000 fatalities when it swept over Honduras and
Nicaragua at the end of October. In Europe, the biggest catastrophe
was the cold spell in mid-November, during which more than 215 people
froze to death. The most costly disaster in economic terms were the
floods in China between May and September, causing 30 billion dollars
in damage and more than 3,600 deaths. Hurricane Georges, which
battered the Caribbean in September, caused 10 billion dollars in
damage.

Colorado: Disease kills trout populations

Weekend News Today
By Staff Writer
Source: Nando Times

Tue Dec 29 , 1998 -- A disease attacking the bone structure of young
fish has killed 90 percent of Colorado's wild rainbow trout in six of
the state's best trout streams, AP cited a study by the Colorado
Division of Wildlife. The report also found that Whirling disease has
reached 12 of the state's 15 trout hatcheries, threatening the state's
$420 million-a-year fishing industry. Whirling disease has killed
millions of fish in such rivers as the Colorado, South Platte,
Gunnison, Rio Grande, Cache la Poudre and Dolores. The disease, which
poses no threat to human health, is caused by a microscopic spore that
attacks the bone structure of baby fish. While it may not kill the
fish, the resulting whirling behavior makes the fish unable to feed
normally and more vulnerable to predators.

"God" can be deleted, rabbi rules

Weekend News Today
By Staff Writer
Source: Nando Times

Tue Dec 29 , 1998 -- A leading Orthodox rabbi has ruled the word "God"
can be deleted from a computer screen or disk, because pixels do not
constitute real letters, AP reported. Rabbi Moshe Shaul Klein
published his ruling this week in Mahsheva Tova, a computer magazine
aimed at Orthodox Jews. Klein was responding to a question from a
reader who was anxious about whether the ban on erasing the variations
on the word "God" applied to computers. According to Jewish law,
printed matter with the word - "elohim" in Hebrew, and its
manifestations in any other language - must be stored, or ritually
buried.

Russia's radioactive waste leaking through containers

Weekend News Today
By Staff Writer
Source: Earth Alert

Tue Dec 29 , 1998 -- Radioactive waste dumped in Arctic seas during
Soviet Union era is leaking through its containers, causing radiation
levels to reach up to 100 times their normal levels in some areas.
Russia's Emergency Situations Minister says radiation levels in waters
off the Novaya Zemlya archipelago exceed the normal levels by a dozen
times, and in the nearby Stepovoi Gulf by 100 times. Radiation levels
in the Barents Sea are also above normal, the Minister said. Chemical
weapons dumped in the Baltic Sea are also causing contamination with
heavy metals and arsenic, the environmental ministry reported, citing
a study it has conducted during the past three years.

Israel may close PA airport in Gaza

Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Washington Post

Tue Dec 29 , 1998 -- Israel has threatened to close down the newly
opened Palestinian-run Gaza airport over a security violation, an
Israeli official said Tuesday, a move that could further undermine the
already fragile peace process. Civilian Airport Authority Director
Avner Yarkoni said Palestinian airport workers refused to let Israeli
security officials check the identity of passengers, most of whom
worked for the Palestinian Authority, who arrived on an Egyptian plane
Sunday afternoon. In a letter sent Monday to the chairman of the
Palestinian Civil Aviation Authority Brig. Gen. Fayez Zeidan, Yarkoni
said repeated violations could cause Israel to shut down the airport.
Israel retains security control over flights into Gaza International
Airport. Zeidan said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his
entourage were aboard the plane in question, and he said that exempted
it from Israeli security checks. The airport's opening last month,
stipulated by the accords brokered by President Clinton at Wye River,
Md., in October, was hailed by Palestinians as a milestone toward
independence and statehood. Since then, Israel has accused the
Palestinians of failing to contain anti-Israel violence, and has
frozen the accords. The Palestinians, in turn, accuse Israel of
reneging on an agreement to release Palestinians jailed for
anti-Israel activities.

http://upway.com/

--- BPR

BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: Mining Co. Today items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 10:50:46 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

ANALYSTS ARE BULLISH ON 1999
Who woulda thunk it? After months of turmoil and uncertainty, many
market pundits are now looking forward to a nifty New Year. Stocks
Guide Mike Griffis has quotes and links from prominent forecasters.
http://stocks.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa123098.htm

CHINA TO JAPAN: SAY YOU'RE SORRY
China's President Jiang is loudly calling for a full apology from
Japan for atrocities committed against the Chinese people during World
War II. But despite China's growing global muscle, Japanese officials
are dragging their feet. Chinese Culture Guide Jun Shan explains why.
http://chineseculture.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa122898.htm

* Iraq raid depleted US missile arsenal (ABC).
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/iraq981230_starr.html

* Russia-Belarus merger, from Geography Guide Matt Rosenberg.
http://geography.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa122898.htm

Mining Co. Today Newsletter
December 30, 1998
http://miningco.com

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: News: 1998 Most Disastrous on Record
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 09:25:39 -0500

From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>

December 30 1998
WORLD NEWS

Nick Nuttall on an insurance industry audit of global strife

World is a far more disastrous place to be 1998: The worst year
for the world

LARGE-SCALE natural disasters are three times as common as
they were in the 1960s, experts said yesterday as they declared
1998 the most calamitous on record.

Damage from catastrophic storms and floods is also costing
many billions of pounds more, according to Munich Re, one of
the biggest reinsurance companies, which has been monitoring
natural disasters for a quarter of a century.

A spokesman for the company, which advises the rest of the
insurance industry, said yesterday: "Comparing the figures for
the 1960s and the past ten years, we have established that the
number of great natural catastrophes was three times larger. The
cost to the world's economies, after adjusting for inflation, is nine
times higher and for the insurance industry three times as much."
 
Some experts claim that the rising rate of natural catastrophes is
making more parts of the globe uninsurable, especially in low-
lying areas in the Pacific, Asia and the Caribbean. Figures for this
year, released yesterday, show that more than 700 so-called
"large-loss events", which killed an estimated 50,000 people,
struck across the globe.

The most frequent natural catastrophes in 1998 were windstorms,
of which 240 were significant, and floods, of which there were
170. They accounted for 85 per cent of the economic losses. In
1995, the previous most calamitous year, there were 100 fewer
"large-loss events". Last year there were 538.

The most recent natural disaster was caused by Hurricane Mitch,
which hit Central America and especially Honduras and
Nicaragua killing an estimated 9,200 people and costing $5 billion
(=A33.1 billion) in uninsured and $150 million in insured losses.

Europe was also plagued with costly natural disasters, the blame
being put on higher than average winter temperatures triggering
extreme weather. The biggest uninsured losses in Europe in 1998
are believed to have been caused by the heatwaves and forest
fires that hit Greece between June and August. These are
estimated to have cost the country $675 million.

The biggest insured losses, costed at $530 million, were in The
Netherlands and Belgium in September. Second, at $500 million,
was the damage caused by the storms that swept Europe in
January.

That loss was equalled by the floods in Britain in April which
cost $500 million, triggering insurance claims of $250 million.

The big rise in natural disasters this year is being blamed on
rising global temperatures aggravating changes to La Ni=F1a, a
climatic cycle in the Pacific that follows El Ni=F1o and spawns
heavy rains in Asia. Gerhard Berz, the head of the geoscience
research centre at Munich Re, said that economic loss and
human misery would rise further if global warming continued in
line with scientists' forecasts.

Dr Berz, whose company has been montioring the level and cost
of natural disasters since the late 1960s, said: "A further advance
in man-made climate change will almost invariably bring us
increasingly extreme natural events and consequently
increasingly large catastrophe losses.

"The progress achieved at the fourth climate summit in Buenos
Aires at the beginning of November is not enough to halt global
warming and stabilise the world's climate in the long term." If the
1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, which cost $100 billion, is
removed from the statistics, then 1998 also becomes the most
expensive year on record for all kinds of natural disasters.

Most of this year's storms and floods hit poor, uninsured parts of
the globe, so the loss to the insurance industry is forecast to be
less, at about $15 billion. But that figure is up from $4.5 billion in
1997 and continues a rising trend.

------

For a break down of disasters per country and the number of
deaths involved see:

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/98/12/30/timfgnfgn01001.html?1124027#story2
 

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: News: Storm Sparks Major Nuclear Alert at Plant in Scotland
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 14:55:51 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

    STORM SPARKS MAJOR NUCLEAR ALERT AT PLANT

    A FULL-SCALE emergency was declared at a Scots nuclear station
when fierce winds knocked out the power to cool its reactors.Last
night, the plant remained shut after bosses pressed the alarm button
on Sunday.

    They couldn't restart the back-up generators, vital to keep the
reactors' two cores from overheating.

    Frightened staff were called from their homes and battled for
five hours to manually try to reset the safety systems before the
cores went "critical".

    A boss was also rushed under police escort to Hunterston B,
in Ayrshire, it was claimed.

    The astonishing situation - sparking fears of a Chernobyl-type
reactor meltdown - happened after storms took out the national grid
twice in the space of 12 hours.

    The first time - at 11pm on Saturday - the emergency back-up
generators in the nuclear plant switched on automatically.

    But there were not enough staff on duty to manually reset them
before the grid went down a second time at 11am on Sunday - leaving
plant bosses helpless.

    An investigation is being carried out by the Nuclear Installations
Inspectorate.

    A spokeswoman said last night: "Two of our inspectors were called
in as soon as the alarm was raised on Sunday and our investigations
continue.

    "There was no power to the system that cools the reactor for a
number of hours and we do consider this a serious incident."

    It's a major embarrassment for Scottish Nuclear, who claim their
safety systems cover all eventualities.

    Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP's environment spokeswoman, said:
"Holiday period or not, you can't afford to take risks with nuclear
energy.

    "Questions must be answered on why Hunterston B was understaffed."

    Earlier this year, the back-up at Dounreay, in Caithness, failed
when a digger cut power cables.

    That disaster was one of the reasons Scots Secretary Donald Dewar
ordered the plant be closed.

    A Hunterston worker, who asked not to be named, said the
situation had been terrifying.

    He said: "The sirens were sounding all over the plant and there
were police, fire and ambulance crew arriving. We didn't know what
was going on.

    "It is the most serious incident I have ever seen."

    Kevin Dunion, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, called
for a full inquiry into the role of the management.

    He said people would be "astounded" to find fail safe procedures
hadn't been worked out for the holiday.

    A spokeswoman for Scottish Nuclear said at no time was any member
of the public or staff at risk.

-----edit -----

    Last night, north Scotland was battered by more storms, with the
islands, Aberdeen and Dundee being worst hit with winds of up to
65mph.

    And more than 4000 families were still without electricity
yesterday as power bosses faced calls to quit.

    Today, the weather will be dull across Scotland, with
strong winds, particularly in the north-east. It will be mild
everywhere.

 (c) Copyright Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd.,
Anderston Quay, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 8DA.
http://www.record-mail.co.uk/rm/stories/A3012804.html

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: Dec 31, 1998 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998 10:10:07 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

8:00 PM Eastern

 HIST - THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF STONEHENGE - Anthropologists,
   engineers and astronomers assess the stone
   circle.(CC)(TVG)

9:00

 HIST - RIDDLE OF THE ZODIAC - Scholars debate whether
   astrology is baseless superstition or basic
   truth.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

 HIST - PYRAMIDS OF GIZA - The Egyptian monuments were
   among the seven wonders of the ancient
   world.(CC)(TVG)

--- BPR

BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: News: Euro heralds new era for Europe
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998 10:13:48 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

*** Euro heralds new era for Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Europe's dream of monetary union becomes
reality Thursday when 11 nations lock their currencies together to
form the euro and create an economic giant whose boundaries stretch
from beyond the Arctic Circle to the shores of the Mediterranean. The
euro's birth is being hailed as a historic turning point in
international finance and is arguably the greatest single step in the
drive to create a united Europe from the ruins of World War II. On
what Europeans are calling "E-Day," economic and finance ministers
from the 11 nations will huddle at European Union headquarters to
agree to the rates at which German marks, French francs and the rest
are absorbed into the euro. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2557832161-da5 ***
Also: 11 countries will get the new euro, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2557831246-ddf ***
Also: Common questions about the euro, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2557825536-892 ***
And: The euro: What will it be worth? See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2557831056-18d

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: News: Black box records car's every move
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998 10:13:48 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

*** Black box records cars' every move

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Lisa Warren thought she had it made. She was
16 and had her own sporty car. But before she had a chance to burn
rubber, her dad Mark and his electrical engineer colleagues at Ease
Simulation Inc. developed a way to make sure Lisa didn't become a
Junior Road Warrior. The result of their efforts was the AutoWatch, a
little black box that monitors a vehicle's onboard computers to
determine how the vehicle is being driven. In honor of Warren's
daughter, the device was originally called the NOL2000, short for
"Narc On Lisa." What does Lisa say about all this? "I hated it because
it told on me," said Lisa, now a wise 18-year-old. However, she
reluctantly adds the thing really worked. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2557827868-24c