Free Republic

Fish quotas aim to halt declineA deal on fishing quotas designed to reverse the decline of several species has been agreed by the European Union. It contains strict measures aimed at reversing the fall in cod numbers and cuts the amount of hake to be caught. But the North Sea fishing fleet can now catch 30% more prawns and 53% more haddock, because of flourishing stocks. Fishermen's leaders and environmental groups criticised the deal, which aims to strike a balance between conserving stocks and protecting the industry. Scottish trawlersThe agreement, which freezes cod and hake catches at last year's levels,...

Abortion As Isurance (pdf file) ABSTRACT This paper views abortion access as an insurance policy that protects women from unwanted pregnancies. Within this framework, we present a theoretical model where greater access provides value in the form of insurance against unwanted births and also reduces the incentive to avoid pregnancy. This model predicts that legalized abortion should lead to a reduction in the likelihood of giving birth. It also predicts that if abortion access becomes relatively inexpensive (including both monetary and psychic costs), then pregnancies would rise and births would remain unchanged or may even rise as well. We review...

Pay up, or you're blocked: Indian ISPs tell US megasites By Andrew Orlowski in London Posted: 07/30/2002 at 10:48 EST America's biggest content providers could face a toll to enter India cyberspace, if plans mooted by the Indian ISP trade association bear fruit. Although the Internet Service Providers Association of India is split on the issue, several of the larger ISPs want to block access to eBay, MSN or Yahoo! unless the prociders pay a toll. "In order to increase revenue streams …we should ask [the portals] to pay if they want traffic on their sites from India," reports the...

<p>Essentially, Massachusetts legislators decided yesterday that direct democracy doesn't work for them.</p> <p>So lawmakers, in a procedural maneuver, canned a ballot question that had drawn more than 130,000 signatures, but still needed legislative approval to appear on the 2004 ballot. If passed by voters, the measure would have banned same-sex marriage as well as some domestic partnership rights.</p>