Word: demanding
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Demand for ivory is falling, but perhaps not fast enough. In 1979 Hong Kong imported 521 tons, representing 31,000 elephants. Last year it imported only 290 tons, but it took at least 33,000 elephants to meet the reduced demand. That is because tusk sizes during the period fell from about 18 lbs. to 9 lbs. Older elephants have been wiped out in many herds, and younger animals are now the targets. Breeding patterns have been disrupted. In Tanzania's Mikumi National Park, 72% of the elephant families observed in a recent study were either missing adult females...
...strike catches Boeing with an unprecedented order backlog of 1,063 commercial jets valued at $80 billion. Delivery dates are in danger of slipping as the company tries to meet surging demand from airlines eager to modernize their aging jet fleets. Earlier this year Boeing was forced to stretch out delivery schedules for its newest jumbo, the 747-400, and to hire hundreds of workers from rival Lockheed to get the program back on a credible schedule. Last week Boeing executives were reassuring customers that the strike, if it is short, would not mean further delivery delays...
...careful crowd control by his hosts, the two-day visit went off without any major embarrassments. Arriving at Schonefeld Airport on Friday, the Soviet leader was greeted with enthusiastic cries of "Gorbi! Gorbi!" but the reception remained calm. About 3,000 people gathered the next day in Alexanderplatz to demand government reform, the biggest such demonstration in East Berlin since 1953, but again the police managed to control the crowd. Officials were less successful in keeping the lid on demonstrations outside the capital: in Dresden and Leipzig violent clashes between protesters and police continued throughout the weekend...
Gorbachev's concern over labor unrest is well grounded. Since last July, when Soviet coal miners went on a three-week strike to protest their squalid living conditions and the government caved in to their demands, long-suffering Soviet workers have found work stoppages a potent weapon. So have restive national groups. For more than a month, railways have been blocked between the tiny Caucasus republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are battling for control of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The blockade has severely curtailed supplies of food, medicine and gasoline in Armenia. Last week coal miners...
...nations will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, this week to decide whether to declare the giant of beasts an endangered species. Such an action could trigger a global ban on ivory trading, but some countries may not go along, and smuggling will no doubt continue. Only a sharp drop in demand for gleaming white tusks can save the elephant. See ENVIRONMENT...