Blog 2: Wild wolves 'good for ecosystems'

Webpage address: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6310211.stm

Date: 31-01-2007

Summary:
This article is about reintroducing the wild wolves into the Scottish Highlands. In the late 1700s the wolves were hunted to extinction in Scotland. Since then the red deer has no natural predator. Now the red deer population reached almost the maximum capacity, the eco-system can support.

There has been an ongoing debate about the possibility of reintroducing the wolf. A group of researchers used a predator/prey model and found out that reintroduction would help the rebalance of ecology. But (sheep)farmers and people living in the rural areas are less positive about it. It will cost a lot of sheep and it will be less safe for people.

Opinion:
It is a difficult situation. They all know that the population of red deer is getting too big. The ecosystem won’t support it much longer, so something has to be done. Otherwise, other animal species will have gone and more and more young trees will be munched by the red deer.

I can understand that the farmers won’t have wild wolves in the highlands. It will bring costs with it, and they will have feelings with sheep killed by wolves. People living in rural areas, that’s the consequence of living there, it will be like in the old days. Another option is to hunt down several red deer, but it is a temporary solution. I say nature must do it, so reintroduce the wild wolf!

Blog 1: India's Tata wins race for Corus

Webpage address: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6315823.st

Date: 31-01-2007

Summary:
The company Tata from India has won the race for Corus, the European steelmaker. Corus is the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens. Tata beat its Brazilian rival CSN. During the auction Tata’s bid was the highest with 608p per share, valuing Corus at £5,75bn. The take-over will create the world fifth-largest steel group.

This morning shares from Corus raised 7%, whereas shares from Tata fell 6% in morning trading. But the Tata Steel director JJ Irani said: “From a small player , we will now become a big player in the world market”. Corus employs 47.300 people worldwide, including 24.000 in the UK. The Tata Group which for example also owns Deawoo cars, has operations in more than 50 countries.

Opinion:
In the past we saw Hoogovens, a Dutch company, and British Steel become one. Together they became Corus. Today there was a next step: Tata took over Corus for an enormous bid of £5,75bn. I think that’s how it goes. Big players take over the smaller players. So in the end there will be some big companies and the smaller will be gone.

This gives me a sad feeling. Even though Tata said it won’t cost jobs in the future, I think it will. For smaller companies to survive they have to become one. With the earns of selling Corus, there will be new money to create new investments, which will create new jobs. So after all, I think it’s not so bad.

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