Forests become rubber farms in Binh Phuoc

Authorities in the southern province of Binh Phuoc have reportedly transferred thousands of hectares of forests to private individuals for conversion into rubber plantations after dubbing them as barren lands.

Most of these farms are owned by rich people from other places like Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong who possess 30 to 100 hectares each, local residents said.

This wholesale destruction of the environment has occurred mainly in Chon Thanh, Bu Gia Map, Bu Dang, Binh Long, and Dong Phu Districts.

But local authorities insist the farms have come up only in places where forests had “degraded.”

“Until last month Binh Phuoc had approved 177 cases involving transfer of 42,600 hectares of degraded forests to individuals for converting into farms,” the director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Van Toi, said.

The transfer was carefully monitored by a special task force, he claimed.

But Tuoi Tre and forestry officials witnessed a different scene in the area.

Large trees still lie around on some farms in Bu Dang and Dong Phu Districts, evidence that forests were chopped down.

The new owners have been unable to clear them because it is illegal to carry large trees out of forests, according to Pham Van Nong, head of the Suoi Rang forest management in the neighboring province of Dong Nai.

Nong affirmed there has been widespread destruction of forests in Binh Phuoc in recent years.

“In 2005 the whole northern side of the Vinh Cuu Sanctuary was protected by a buffer zone of thick natural forests in Binh Phuoc,” he told Tuoi Tre.

The strip, growing along the Ma Da River that separates Dong Nai and Binh Phuoc, has been reduced from 78km in width to just 7km now, he added.

“Without the buffer, the Vinh Cuu sanctuary faces a big threat of encroachment,” the sanctuary’s director, Tran Van Mui, said.

“It’s illogical even to transform barren forest land into farms; it should be afforested instead.

“This forest in Binh Phuoc has long nurtured water sources and acted as a lung for the country’s southeastern region.”

Cao Ngoc Long, deputy director of the Bu Gia Map National Park in Binh Phuoc, sounded a dire warning: “The province could lose its entire forest cover in five months if the destruction is not halted now.”

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Google to resume taking 'Street View' photos next week

Google's "Street View" cars will return to the road next week but all wireless scanning equipment has been removed after a controversy over the collection of private information.

Google said Friday that the camera-equipped cars, which drive around taking photographs for the Internet giant's free online mapping service, would resume operating in four countries next week and in others later.

"Having spoken to the relevant regulators, we have decided to start Street View driving in Ireland, Norway, South Africa and Sweden again starting next week," Brian McClendon, a Google vice president of engineering, said in a blog post.

"We expect to add more countries in time."

Google grounded all Street View cars in May after disclosing that they had mistakenly gathered snippets of private data sent over unsecured wireless networks.

The Mountain View, California-based search and advertising titan is facing lawsuits and investigations in a number of countries in connection with private wireless data collected by Street View cars.

According to Google, Street View cars taking photographs of cities in more than 30 countries inadvertently gathered fragments of personal information, so-called payload data, sent over unsecured Wi-Fi systems.

McClendon said the cars "will no longer collect any Wi-Fi information at all, but will continue to collect photos and 3D imagery as they did before."

He said Wi-Fi data collection equipment has been removed from its cars in each country.

"We recognize that serious mistakes were made in the collection of Wi-Fi payload data, and we have worked to quickly rectify them," McClendon added.

"However, we also believe that Street View is a great product for users, whether people want to find a hotel, check out a potential new home or find a restaurant."

Google, meanwhile, issued an apology in Australia over the collection of private data there by Street View cars and pledged to work "even more closely" with the country's privacy commissioner in the future.

"We want to reiterate to Australians that this was a mistake for which we are sincerely sorry," Google senior vice president Alan Eustace said in a post on the Google Australia blog.

"Maintaining people's trust is crucial to everything we do and we have to earn that trust every single day," Eustace said. "We are acutely aware that we failed badly here."

Street View, which was launched in 2006, lets users view panoramic street scenes on Google Maps and take a virtual "walk" through cities such as New York, Paris or Hong Kong.

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Casillas true hero as Iniesta steals headlines

JOHANNESBURG – Andres Iniesta may grab the backpage headlines for his dramatic extra-time winner in the World Cup final on Sunday but the true match-winner was goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Being a football goalkeeper can be a precarious and lonely business at times as shot-stoppers are far more often branded as villains than heroes.

But the international goalkeeping fraternity will have noted with delight the two vital interventions made by Spain captain Casillas.

The Real Madrid star made two crucial one-on-one saves to deny Holland's Arjen Robben in normal time to keep the scores level before Iniesta smashed home the historic winner four minutes from time.

In truth, over the 120 minutes, Casillas had little to do, but when he was called upon, he never faltered.

In the first 50 minutes he had made two comfortable saves from speculative Robben efforts but his real influence was yet to be seen.

On 62 minutes Wesley Sneijder dissected the Spain defence with an inch-perfect through ball that Robben scampered onto and raced clean through.

With time to pick his spot he hesitated but Casillas was not fooled and he stuck out a leg to divert Robben's left foot effort away for a corner.

Then, seven minutes from time, Robben skinned Carles Puyol for pace, with the Barcelona centre-back doing all he could to hinder the pacey winger's progress but bringing him down.

He did just enough to give Casillas a chance and as Robben tried to round the keeper, he smothered the danger.

Had Robben taken either of those chances, he and not Iniesta would likely have been the World Cup final hero.

But having lifted the World Cup trophy as he was mobbed by delirious team-mates, Casillas thus completed the full set of footballing gongs, 10 years after he sensationally burst into football's collective consciousness.

And leading Spain to their first ever World Cup triumph was a fitting reward for a player who must now be ranked above Italy's Gianluigi Buffon as the best goalkeeper in the world.

"It's sensational. It's an historic moment for Spanish football," said Casillas.

Back at the start of the 1999/2000 season Real Madrid's first choice goalkeeper was Germany number one Bodo Illgner but by the end of the season it was a teenage Spaniard who had earned a starting berth between the sticks.

Casillas first announced his potential to the world at Old Trafford as he put in a sensational display to keep out the majority of what Manchester United could throw at him as Real stunned the reigning Champions League holders 3-2 on the night and on aggregate in the second round.

Real went on to beat Valencia 3-0 in the final and at 19, Casillas became the youngest goalkeeper ever to play in a Champions League final.

That season he also made his international debut and was a non-playing member of Spain's Euro 2000 squad.

Two seasons later the young stopper suffered a blip in his career as poor form saw him relegated to the bench, but he was once again to be Real's Champions League hero.

After Cesar Sanchez had to go off injured in the final against Bayer Leverkusen, Casillas came on to make a string of fine saves as the Spaniards held out for a 2-1 victory.

He would suffer another one of those rare blips at the beginning of this World Cup, blamed by many for Switzerland's goal as Spain were stunned 1-0 in their opening match, although some suggested having his TV presenter grilfriend Sara Carbonera behind his goal may have distracted him.

But since that moment, Casillas was faultless and now he can add the World Cup to his European Championship, three Champions League and four La Liga titles.

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