• Environmentalists and commercial fishers in Tasmania, Australia have welcomed a recent ban on net fishing at night. This activity of recreational fishers was deemed harmful for birds and marine mammals.

• Timber giant Gunns Limited has filed a US $4.8 million lawsuit against Australian environmentalists and legislators for conducting protest campaigns that damaged its business. The case was lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

• A bird flu outbreak has been reported in Mataram, Indonesia. Nearly 43 per cent poultry in 10 of the city's 23 subdistricts has been infected. No case of human infection has been reported.

• In January 2005, five officials of the US mining giant Newmont will face a pollution trial in Indonesia. The move disregards warnings that it will impede foreign investment (see Down To Earth,