To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Australian farmers to be monitored by satellite
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2000 06:43:11 -0500

From: owner-bpr@philologos.org

Skies spy on farms

3jan00

EVERY Australian farmer will be monitored by satellite by May 1
in an agricultural revolution that is changing the face of
global food production.

Canberra-based company Agrecon is behind the move to monitor
every square metre of farming land in the nation.

Land owners will be told via the Internet how productive their
property has been over two decades.

Problem areas will be isolated to as little as 10sqm for
examination, with data on soil condition provided.

Farmers will be updated on everything from crop yields to
temperatures and rainfalls.

The satellites will also provide evidence to settle neighbor's
disputes over spray drifts and the effects of chemicals.

The Agricultural Monitoring System (AMS) is part of a satellite-
led agricultural revolution which will see international
surveillance satellites operating by the end of the year.

They will monitor our global trading competitors, identifying
crop performances to give Australian commodities a leading edge
in the international marketplaces.

Agrecon, in a joint venture with the University of Canberra, is
putting the AMS on the Internet to service the Australian Wheat
Board by May 1.

Two months later it will be available to anyone in the world
from individuals to corporate giants.

http://www.news.com.au/news_content/state_content/4130964.htm

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Negotiations underway for new pope
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2000 06:46:19 -0500

From: owner-bpr@philologos.org

Throne of St Peter atitter at ailing Pope

Rome: The race to find a new pope has begun in earnest amid
fears that the health of John Paul II has deteriorated to the
point where he may not be able to continue in office.

Speculation has increased with the news that the longest-
serving pontiff of the 20th century now has to be pushed around
on a trolley by two attendants, to ease the strain on his legs.

Inside the Vatican, officials admit that intense negotiations
are under way on the future of the papacy. The Pope himself has
held a series of "sounding out" lunches with potential papal
candidates. These private meals, in the presence of one witness,
have taken place with the French cardinal Roger Etchegarry; the
Colombian cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos; and the Italian
cardinal Camillo Ruini.

Full story:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0001/03/world/world11.html

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jan 3, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 08:44:46 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

8:00 PM Eastern

 PBS - THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE - "America 1900" - The
          20th century begins with concerns about guerrilla war,
          struggling immigrants, sex, racial tensions and technology;
          narrator David McCullough.(CC)(TVPG)

9:00

 A&E - INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS - "Hunt for the Killer
          Flu" - Scientists' research could unleash the 1918 influenza
          virus.(CC)

 DISC - LANDSLIDE: GRAVITY KILLS - Landslides kill more
          people than all other natural disasters.(CC)

10:00

 CNN - MILLENNIUM COVERAGE - Designer babies; with
          Bernard Shaw and Judy Woodruff.(CC)

 DISC - WRESTLING THE MISSISSIPPI - Hydrologists predict the
          river will see an unparalleled flood in the near
          future.(CC)(TVG)

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (1/2/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 08:47:18 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

BARAK OFF TO SHEPHERDSTOWN
Prime Minister Barak, his wife Nava, and a high-level delegation departed
this afternoon for the second round of talks with Syrian Foreign Minister
Farouk A-Shara in Shepherdstown, Virginia. The delegation includes Foreign
Minister David Levy, Tourism Minister and former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon
Lipkin-Shachak, and Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein. Barak canceled
the Cabinet meeting planned for earlier this afternoon, at which he was to
have presented to the ministers his position in the talks. The Likud says
that this is part of Barak's "failure of leadership... This is an attempt
to hide even from his own ministers the true picture of the negotiations
with Syria." Barak met instead with the National Council for the Golan, a
body comprised of anti-withdrawal public figures from across the public
spectrum. Barak said afterwards that he has no illusions "regarding the
reality in which we live in the Middle East, and the true guarantee for the
State of Israel's continued existence is not signed agreements, but
defense, strategic and economic power supported by the global power of the
United States and the internal strength of Israeli society." He concluded
that he would only sign an agreement that "strengthens Israel's security
and brings a safer future for our children."

The talks with the Syrians are expected to last anywhere between 7 and 12
days. Barak said again today that he did not promise the entire Golan to
the Syrians, but added that an agreement with Syria would require "very
painful concessions." The Barak camp claims that it has a letter from
Netanyahu promising to withdraw from "the Syrian territory captured in
1967." Netanyahu claims that his consent to give away Golan territory did
not include a several-mile wide strip east of the Kinneret.

Regarding the fact that Mrs. Barak is accompanying her husband,
self-proclaimed left-wing radio personality Shelly Yechimovitch admitted
today: "It appears that for the same things that earned Sarah Netanyahu
harsh criticism in the press, Nava Barak is now treated with kid gloves and
very forgivingly."

FORGED PALESTINIAN LAND-GRAB
Haggai Huberman reported in HaTzofeh this past Friday that the Palestinian
Authority has apparently come up with another method of taking over Israeli
land: forged documents. Huberman told Arutz-7 today that the story began
in October 1998, when an Arab of Bethlehem produced a document
purporting to show that a daughter company of the Jewish National Fund - the Hemnuta
Company - had sold him a piece of property in the Gush Etzion area. A
routine check by Hemnuta quickly found that the document was forged - its
Hebrew date was Yom Kippur, and the signing clerk had retired long before
the date of the document - and warned the Civil Administration not to honor
the document. A complaint was filed with the police, but the case was
closed "for lack of public interest."

About a month ago, Huberman said, the same Arab arrived at the Land
Registrar in Bethlehem with the same forged document, and this time the
Palestinian Authority clerk registered the property under his name.
Although the Civil Administration announced that there is no legal validity
to the false registration, "the problem is that the land registry books
were handed over to the PA by Shimon Peres some years ago," Huberman
said. The Civil Administration has found at least two more forged documents of
state-owned lands - one within the town of Efrat, and another just south of
Har Homa. A Hemnuta official said that the forgings are an official
Palestinian Authority initiative.

On another issue, Huberman reported today that Israeli negotiators have
proposed that A-Ram and other northern suburbs of Jerusalem, such as Beit
Hanina and the suburbs of Ramallah, serve as capital of the Palestinian
entity. Under the plan, the Atarot airport would be jointly controlled by
Israel and the Palestinians. "Israel does not want to offer the
south-eastern Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis to the Palestinian Authority,"
Huberman said, "as it is too close to Jerusalem itself and the Temple
Mount. The PA, for its part, continues to insist on Abu Dis, as the
Palestinians feel that they already have a stronghold north of Jerusalem -
which is becoming increasingly larger - and they would like to have a
presence south of Jerusalem as well."

WET WEATHER EXPECTED
Rain is expected throughout the country from Monday through Wednesday.
The level of the Kinneret Sea is currently 213.22 meters below sea level, or 22
centimeters under the government-authorized red line.

Arutz Sheva News Service
 <www.ArutzSheva.org>
Sunday, January 2, 2000 / Tevet 24, 5760

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - US confirms Russia used scud missiles in Chechnya
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 08:52:55 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

                 U.S. Confirms Russia Used Scud
                 Missiles In Chechnya

WASHINGTON, Jan 2, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia has used
tactical Scud missiles in its offensive in the breakaway republic of Chechnya,
the Pentagon said Saturday.

"We can confirm that," a Defense Department told AFP but refused to
provide any details, saying, "we cannot go beyond that."

The launching of three Scud missiles against targets in Chechnya was
detected Friday by the North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD), which relayed the information to the Center for Year 2000
Strategic Stability, where US and Russian officers monitor missile launches.

But the range of the missiles was below 500 kilometers (310 miles) and did
not set off alarm bells at the center, which is primarily concerned about
intercontinental missiles, officials said.

Moscow warned Chechen separatist rebels Thursday that more powerful
weapons would be used against them, if they continued to put up resistance
in Grozny and elsewhere in the war-torn republic.

"We possess much more powerful means of destruction than we have so far
used," said General Anatoly Kornukov, head of the Russian Air Force.

Full Story:
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=122212

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - About.com Guide to Geography news
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 08:56:14 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

UK PROPOSES WORLDWIDE GeT, GREENWICH ELECTRONIC TIME
The United Kingdom proposed to make Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) the
official time of the Internet and to call that time Greenwich Electronic Time (GeT).
 A consortium of private enterprise and the government hopes that GeT can
become the standard time/date stamp across the Internet for e-transactions
and email. Visit their site for more information at
http://www.get-time.org

EU REQUESTS .eu DOMAIN
The European Union has proposed a .eu top level domain so that
multi-national European countries aren't relegated to their
country-specific domains (i.e. .de for Germany or .fr for France) while
U.S. companies take every .com available. The International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) would need to approve the change but is hesitant
since the EU isn't a country.

U.S. POPULATION AT 274 MILLION
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that on January 1, 2000 the U.S.
population was estimated at 274,024,000. This is 2,440,000 (0.9 percent)
higher than New Year's Day, 1999. In addition, the Bureau announced last
week that Nevada continues to be the fastest growing state and southern and
western states continue to grow rapidly.

THE CENTURY'S WORST DISASTERS
The USGS officially announced some of the worst natural disasters of the
1900s to be...

* Most Powerful Earthquake: A magnitude 9.5 that struck Chile on May 22,
1960
* Deadliest Earthquake: A magnitude 8.0 that struck Tianjin (formerly
Tangshan), China, on July 27, 1976 and officially killed 255,000, but
unofficial estimates of the death toll were as high as 655,000
* Largest Volcanic Eruption: June 6-9, 1912, at Novarupta on the Alaska
Peninsula with an estimated 9 cubic miles of magma
* Largest Landslide: Mount St. Helens, Washington, in 1980

For additional worst disasters of the 1900s, follow this link...
http://geography.about.com/library/misc/blcenturyworst.htm

via: About.com Guide to Geography
http://geography.about.com
geography.guide@about.com

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