Beach cleanup yields 1.7m cigarette butts

WASHINGTON: Combing beaches and along US inland waterways, volunteers found a rusted cookie sheet., suitcases a 5-pound (2.25-kg) pack of cocaine, a lottery ticket and enough cigarette butts to stretch 28 miles (45 kins! if plaed end to end. reports AP.

Those were only a few of the 7.3 million pieces of trash, debris and other discarded wastes collected and catalogued: by volunteers for the Center for Marine Conservation tn the group's sixth annual beach and waterway cleanup.

More than 158.000 volunteers covered 4 500 rpiles (7240 kms) of shoreline in 32 states and two territories during the cleanup most of which took place in September 1903. A summary of what they found was released in a repori Wednesday

A similar cleanup Is planned for later this fall

The center, an environmental group that works to protect marine wildlife and their habitat, has sponsored an annual volunteer beach cleanup programme since 1988

Among the Items collected in the latest sweep were: l 7 million cigarette butts. 344.502 pieces of glass. 203.330 straws. 333.996 bottles. 210.553 cans 134.547 cups 40.508 balloons. 30.326 light bulbs and fluorescent tirbi 10,166 plastic syringes. 55,470 plastic trash bags and '>.636 condoms.

British press resists temptation

LONDON: The British press on Thursday resisted the temptation to splash full-frontal pictures of a naked heir to the throne but relished the tale of the peeping Tom Paperazzo who paught the Prince with his trousers down reports AFP.

The tabloid Sun came closest to revealing Prince Charles in all his glory. Under the caption "one can t see a thing tts front-page carried a not-very-reveallng picture of a Queen Elizabeth II look-alike peering Intently at the German, magazine Bild Zeitung published Wednesday with its blurred picture of the Prince wearing nothing but a towel slung nonchalantly over his shoulder.

According to the Times, snatched nude photographs were offered to some British tabloid newsp-iiH-r-- Dmrsdav lor alKHlt 30.000 pounds (45.000 dollars)

300 dolphins saved

SYDNEY: Fisheries officers have saved about 300 dolplmis from being slaughtered by villagers on a tiny Pacific island news reports said Thursday. says AP

Radio Kiribati said the mammals were stranded last week In a shallow lagoon on Christmas Island. 2,000 ktlonieters (1,250 miles) south of Honolulu, according to a report by Pacnews. a Pacific-area news agency.

Islanders killed 10 of them for food before Kiribati fisheries officers arrived and used boats to guide them out to

The radio said while dolphin strandings were common on the island it was unusual for so many to be trapped

Christmas Island Is part of the republic ol Klnbau an ex British colony formerly known as the Clllxn Islands