After the hurricane, on a stretch in Indian River County where beach erosion was worst and we had maybe 200 nests, 80 per cent of our stakes had been swept away.”The experts mark nests with wooden stakes stating how many eggs are below and which type they are. “Before the hurricane, we had up to 16,000 nests [on a 20-mile stretch, including Vero Beach where the eye of the hurricane passed] with an average 110 eggs in each. Hundreds of days-old turtles about two inches long, which had started the 20-mile paddle towards the warm Gulf Stream and the sargasso (sea grass) that camouflages them, may also have been swept ashore without the strength to try again, wildlife experts say.At the best of times, turtles have only a 1 in 10,000 chance of reaching adulthood Those that survive often live 50 years or more. PHIL DAVISON
Miami
Hundreds of thousands of turtle eggs, mostly from the threatened loggerhead species, may have been destroyed when Hurricane Erin hammered Florida beaches this week with an eight-foot ocean surge.Like crumpled ping-pong balls, cracked or smashed eggs were scattered across beaches by wind or waves. Torn from their nests, many were attacked by rats, racoons, gulls or crabs.
“One could say, maybe these police shouldn’t have Kalashnikovs, but just clubs and a few guns?”The Israel-PLO peace deal allows the 100,000 West Bank Jewish settlers to remain in place during an interim period, but delays in its implementation are largely due to differences over security. Another week of negotiations on the second stage of the accord ended yesterdaywith little progress on redeployment of Israeli troops out of Arab communities, Palestinian elections and security.. They met Yitzhak Rabin and military chiefs for more than two hours at the end of a week in which Jewish settlers who oppose Palestinian self- rule seized the political initiative by illegally occupying West Bank hilltops.
Hundreds of protesters were dragged away and briefly arrested every day from Monday to Thursday, when the settlers declared a three-day truce.”Letting 20,000 so-called police come in with Kalashnikovs raises our fear of a worsening of security, not increased security,” said Uri Ariel, a settler leader. Jerusalem (Reuter) – Jewish settlers yesterday asked the Israeli Prime Minister not to allow Palestinian police to carry rifles when they are deployed in the West Bank.
The old man gave his people bread and circuses to mark his birthday.. Ah yes, if only it were that easy, if only there were no need for the midnight security courts and the 25-year prison sentences and the after- dark arrests. But he was cheered by a large group of young Palestinians who chanted: “All the people are with Abu Ammar.”Then the President of Palestine opened the races while his men handed out baskets of sweet wafers to the hundreds of sheikhs and family leaders who sat beneath the awning. His colleague replied: “I will not forget Jerusalem or Haifa or Bisan.” The crowd roared because half of Jerusalem and all of Haifa and Bisan are in present-day Israel, not in Gaza or the West Bank.At the end the actors embraced, old friends who disagreed about the peace but would never fight each other Mr Arafat clapped and laughed. “Jerusalem will come back to us with Abu Ammar’s efforts,” they went on “Do we want to sell this land?” one actor asked.
