• austriantimes.at
• croatiantimes.com
• romaniantimes.at
• salzburgtimes.at

Today

• Vienna - Johnny\'s Pub Quiz
• Vienna - Unknown Underground
• Vienna - Childrens Fun
• Vienna - Palais Lichtenstein

© Wikipedia

01. 06. 12. - 17:00

• more Business news
• RSS Feed Business

01. 06. 12. - 17:00

Andritz named by Jagger over rain forest dam plan

The first wife of Mick Jagger who is now a European goodwill ambassador has come to Vienna to highlight the fact that the Austrian firm Andritz is involved in a controversial project to build a huge dam in the Amazon rainforest.

Bianca met husband to be Mick Jagger at a party after a Rolling Stones concert in September 1970 in France and they married while she was four months pregnant. In May 1978 she filed for divorce on the grounds of his adultery with model Jerry Hall.

In addition to her extensive charitable works, Jagger had a public reputation as a jet-setter and party-goer in the 1970s and early 1980s, and was a close friend of pop artist Andy Warhol.

And she is now a Europe Goodwill Ambassador, Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Member of the Executive Director's Leadership Council of Amnesty International USA, and a Trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust which led her to visit Vienna.

She is campaigning against the planned Belo Monte, a project which has been strongly criticized by indigenous people and numerous environmental organizations in Brazil plus organizations and individuals around the world. Belo Monte's 668 square kilometres (258 sq mi) of reservoir and will flood 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi) of forest, about 0.01% of the Amazon forest.

Though argued to be a relatively small area for a dam’s energy output, this output cannot be fully obtained without the construction of other dams planned within the dam complex. The prognosed area of reservoir for the Belo Monte dam and the necessary Altamira dam together will exceed 6500 km2 of rainforest.

While she was here Jagger also left two ministers. He said: "as long as it was a bit of hope that we need to continue to campaign as strongly as possible against  Belo Monte."

Austrian WWF manager Hildegard Aichenberger said there was no doubt the importance of the rainforest to Austria. She said: "The only reason that the climate catastrophe that everyone has been predicting has not happened yet is that we still have the rainforests.

Jagger arrived in Austria to put the spotlight on Andritz which is involved in the project and said that she hoped that investors in the firm would consider putting their money elsewhere until had a more environmentally friendly and responsible policy about projects like the dam.

She did not meet representatives from the firm but she did meet ministers Nikolaus Berlakovich and Michael Spindelegger.

Vienna Times

Preparation for Life Ball begins
The preparations of the Life Ball in Vienna are at full blast after delays due to bad weather last weekend. Star guests like Eva Longoria and Carmen Electra are expected at Vienna Airport on Friday.

Woman killed by Vienna tram
A female pedestrian tried to cross a street in Vienna Hietzing yesterday afternoon (Tues) without paying attention to the traffic. She was hit by the tram number 60 and died at the scene.

15 minutes free parking instead of 10
The 15-minute parking ticket will replace the 10-minute parking ticket in autumn. The only alternative is to buy your parking ticket with your phone. A parking clock does not protect you from a fine.

Lightning storm causes damage in Lower Austria
810 lightning strikes have been counted in Lower Austria last night (Tues). Meteorologists state that this is not an extraordinary number but some lightning strikes resulted in fires. The fire brigade had to set out in several towns.

Spanish Riding School for everyone
The riding centre of Heldenberg, district of Hollabrunn (Lower Austria) is now offering exclusive courses: professional riders of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna teach interested riders.

Vienna advocates a ban on pesticides
Vienna has now joined those Austrian states that advocate a cooperative strategy for a ban of the neonicotinoids pesticides. Apparently, there are tested alternatives for the pesticides that are harmful for bees.

Huge debate over multilingualism in Austria
Possible projects for a "multilingual oriented educational concept" have led to a debate in Vienna. The SPÖ, ÖVP and FPÖ are currently discussing the two sides of the issue: "multilingualism as a chance" and "German as a priority".

Exhibition Drawing Against Oblivion
The Leopold Museum in Vienna opened the the exhibition "Drawing against oblivion" on 17 May. Manfred Bockelmann drew more than 60 portraits of children and teenagers, who were victims of the Nazi terror.

Swap deals legal case gets underway
The civil case of the city of Linz, Upper Austria, against the Bawag bank about the swap deal will start on 24 May. The maximum amount of damage for Linz could be as much as 417 million Euros in the worst case.

Third man accident leaves man in hospital
A 55-year-old man fell during the "Third Man Tour", which leads visitors through the Viennese canal system. He is said to have suffered a femoral neck fracture.