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Show TheSalt Lake Tribune NATION/WORLD A Millennium-Ending Look at Trends Around the World BY DAVID BRISCOE THE Brown said that much of the data is positive. however, including a continued strong growth CIATEDPRESS, WASHINGTON — The world is getting hotter and nature more hostile, sperm counts are sinking in the United States and Europe, and the use of wind power is soaring, a millenni- um-ending snapshotofglobal trendsfinds. Worldwatch Institute's annual eclectic mpilation of facts and figures, Vital Signs 1 offersa little something for everyone, making predictions about where the planet and its inhabitants are headed in the next century An assessment by Worldwatch president Lester Brown in the report released Saturday is that the latest data underscore big prob- lems, with the average global temperature. weather-related damageand people displaced by stormsall going “off the charts.” The earth registered a record annual aver age temperature of 14.57 degrees Celsius (58.23 degrees Fahrenheit). The cost of damage from storms was up ‘‘a staggeving 53 per- cent” to $92 billion for 1998. And 300 million ear over the past decade; increases l usage, up 16 percent a r; and rapidly erowile cross-cultural communications over the Internet The number of Internet users has been in- creasingby about 50 percent a year since 1995 andreached an estimated 147 million people. The most rapid hooking up of newusers is occurringin surprising places: an eightfoldin. crease in Nigeria last year, a quadrupling in Namibia, while the rest of Africa saw only modest growth. The regional leader in new Internet hookups is Latin America, whichal- most doubled the number of host computers last year, Worldwateh said Howwe think about mobility and how we think about development are beginning to change,” Brownsaid Worldwatch. a nongovernment research group fundedby grants and sales of its publi cations, has been compiling Vital Signs for eight years and adds newcategories eachyear Among newsubjects this year is the look at this year. dropping sperm counts in industrial countries. Pointing to environmental pollutants as a searchers pulled together for thefirst time Pakistan Offers to Talk — India Continues Airstrikes SOCIATEDPRESS THE DRAS,India — Asfighter jets pounded a Himalayan borderexinchedcloserto hide-outs of hun vinte oa border through Kashmir both na tions agreedtoafter the last war. Indian army soldiers madetheir backing ofpolitical rivals on the airstrikes and said he had reject- guerrillas at about 17,000 feet. a military commander said India’s prime minister won the ed a suggestion byhis Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif,toend the militaryaction in the divided fight and the possibility of heavy casualties, the commander said. In earlier close-quarter fight- Bihari Vajpayee told a meeting of ing. Indian soldiers took some po- major political parties. The air force began sorties Wednesday aimedat infiltrators entrenched in Indian territory in Kashmir. New Delhi says they include Afghan mercenaries and Pakistan armysoldiers disguised as guerrill: jas. “Stopping the airstrikes may not be possible. It cannot be one sitions on the slopes of the moun tains. Artillery battles also raged through the night. The military campat Dras. close to the disputed border, came under heavy fire But there was no damageor casualties Defense Minister George Fer. nandes. in New Delhi, said that around 400 infiltrators had been killed in the operation so far and In their call, Sharif offered to send his foreign minister to New Delhi for talks to defuse the tension. But India has not yet given its formal consentfor the visit and has demandedthat Pakistan stop its militaryfromdispatchinginfil trators to Kashmir while it consid. ers Sharif’s offer. Kashmir has been at the center of two of the three wars that India and Pakistan have fought since their independencein 1947 The United States, Russia and that others had been also is under way in four ropeancities and Japan Underscoring a mixed bag of trends. other ch study includes: ® Global economic growth slows and world tradedeclines as spending onadvertising and fast-food consumptiongo up. @ Production of automobiles and bicycles declines as worldair travel soars. B The numberof warsis up as U.N keeping expenditures and nuclear arsenals decline H World population swells andlife expec tancy is up as new AIDS casescontinue to set records GGrain harvest and meat production slow as the use of irrigation expands. @ Burning of fossil fuels and nuclear power generation decline as wind power andsolar cell production grow by doubledigits he chastised ongressional publicans for proposing ¢ e he some oftheenvironmental initiatives inhis fiscal 2000 budget For the fourth consecutive day Clinton and his wife did not leave the secluded 7.500-acre recrea tion and wildlife preserve where they are vacationing in Florida's northeastern-most corner Recordinghis weekly radio ad dress from the site. the president directed the National Park Ser e efforts to safeguard s and other natural feaHe instructed the Park Service to expand federal beaches — including the Cape Cod, Cape Hatteras and Point Reyes National Seashores — to identify pollution sources and protect beach-goers frompo| health hazards.” work with states to strength en public health protections. at He also told the Environmental Protection Agency to propose within a year “a new national rule other beaches to prevent overflows from sewage systems.” a major causeof beach all federal agencies to adopt a comprehensive strategy to better safeguardrivers andotherbodies closures of water on federal lands. The president also Early Friday. an Indiz and its crew was killed onall clearance clothing & accessories in all Women’s, Z-Attitude & Children’s Departments at any ZCMI or ZCMI I! store. | I ] MI-17 wned Reupholster Now! It comes back * to you. better than new! Selanne leery aad Caaero Call foraon en Re we 10 year written guarantee CL a) MASTERCRAFT 2700 So. State 484-7657 484-2333 1-800-450-7336 NOW SERVING: PARK CITY, TOOELE AND OGDEN Are Now ONLINE And Pully Searchable At The Salt Lake Tribune Website on the Internet for All Classified Readers! http://www.sitrib.com The Salt Lake Tribune ] | o The plane dived andfired at the helicopter gunship was cl called on | commander said The intrusion occurred r Pandrass, a town near the Line of Control ploded nuclear devices edi The EPA vice to expanc monitoringof waterquality at national beaches space and was fired at by an In dian anti-aircraft gun, a local the two nations, which both ex re tekan) nae hi nen Peery ea eng eres) en hseekee] ee a re Tener ere tony water quality moni- toring along thousands of miles of A US. built F-16 fighter jet of any damage ee out over a beautiful priate time tore Re the Pakistan Air Force crossed about 3,000 yards into Indian air- gun, turning back without causing in under vide a demographic cross-section of males. birds. towateh the sunset andthe TheIndian army saidits casual ties stand a killed and 128 wounded. Twelvesoldiersor officers were missing. the army said Saturday other countries have urged respark a new all-out war between tudies in the UnitedStates and 1 since 1938 — and offer no comparison with Third World spermcounts. It also makes no attempt to pro: “reminds us once captured straint, fearing Kashmir could preserve trees. to see wild animals and rare al vacation spot ton on Satur agencies to boos up beaches ar waterwa save an additional and in someplaces even within 50 yards, expecting a hand-to-hand phonecall Fridz a nton said the visit to the nain what a gift it is to spend time outdoors, to walk among tall — Fr From 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thesoldiers closed in within about 200 yards of theinfiltrators territory, claimed by both of the sided,” Vajpayee told the Paki- BY CHARLES BABINGTON ts among those wayupto positions held by the nuclear nations. “We will not stop until our aim is achieved,” Prime Minister Atal stani prime minister in a tele ef This Monday, Memorial Day, May 31 Only groundtests last year. Pakistan has denied any connection to the guerrillas and has accusedIndia ofhitting its territory in the airstrikes. dreds of Islamic guerrillas in Kashmir, officials and military commanderssaid. panse, Indian military columns 1 male sperm Clinton Calls for Cleanup of Beaches, Waterways YULEE. Fla people were driven from their homes by storms and flooding — statistic that re- BY ARTHUR MAX possible cause he report cites a 50 percent in the use of wind power, up anaverage of A3 Sunday, May 30. 1999 c— A 4 { \ 4 |
