italy trash.pptVIP

news Hundreds of demonstrators whove been blocking one of Italys main railway lines since Friday in a protest about a local rubbish dump have agreed to end their demonstra-tion. The protest in a small country station just south of Naples blocked the main North-South line, and left tens of thousands of Italian rail travelers delayed or stranded. The protesters were angry at the government plans to reopen a local trash site. Trash city Naples is enduring yet another garbage strike. But if the rats, cockroaches and stench are familiar, the outcome may be different this time around. Meanwhile, local residents are protesting against Prodis plans to reopen an old dump on Pianura, on the outskirts of Naples. The site, in the suburb of Pozzuoli, is tucked between the World Wildlife Funds Astroni Crater reserve and development property for a luxury golf resort. It was closed 12 years ago at the EUs urging after health officials found high levels of toxic substances in the air and water and above-average death and cancer rates for those living in the area. In 2004, when authorities tried to reopen the site, the British medical journal Lancet issued a health report calling the area a triangle of death. The government then deemed the site unusable and covered the dump with a picturesque hill, under which few people venture to guess what is actually buried. So sure were residents that this toxic landfill would never be reopened that many locals have invested millions of euros over the last three years in a development plan to build luxury hotels and an 18-hole golf course next to the covered fill. * * The Italian region of Campania has been experiencing a garbage crisis for almost 14 years, during which time little has changed beyond the contents of the overflowing bins. Indeed, its become so routine that theres now a predictable pattern. First, the Camorra—the local mafia, which controls the citys garbage industry—stuffs the areas dumps and incineration facilities with garb