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Examines international competition in the plastic bag industry. Number of jobs lost by Sonoco Products Co., a plastic bag manufacturer, as the result of overseas competition; Details of a petition filed with the International Trade Commission by Sonoco and other makers of plastic shopping bags, charging China, Thailand and Malaysia were violating antidumping laws; Companies in support of the petition that have ties to foreign companies, suggesting a complicated issue; Market shares of the U.S. plastic bag industry, indicating a rise in foreign companies' share.

The islands began appearing last fall, detailed in pleasing shades of blue on the plastic bags that drape the city's dry cleaning. Busy New Yorkers fetching their shirts might have glanced at the picture -- of an ocean and a rocky isle -- and taken it for a travel ad, perhaps for an Italian island like Capri, or Phuket in Thailand. Those who looked closer saw a manifesto. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information about several papers discussed at the international conference of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on May 4, 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand is presented. A report mention that the adjustments in the lifestyle of an individual is a significant factor to mitigate climate change. It is stated that the changes in lifestyle which emphasize resource conservation can contribute to develop a low-carbon economy.

The article informs that Thailand's Muslim minority needs more than an empty gesture. In his effort to pacify Thailand's restive southern provinces, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra recently bombarded the inhabitants with white paper origami in the shape of cranes by the millions a spectacle heavy on symbolism but light on substance. Resentment against the government is growing, along with allegations of abduction and torture and the disappearances of various Muslim activists including human rights lawyer Sonchai Neelaphaijit while under police surveillance in March.

Reports on the efforts of Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra to provide a gesture of peace to the country's agitated Muslim population by airlifting origami birds. Plan to drop 63 million paper cranes on the Muslim dominated southern region; Division of Thailand into the majority Buddhist population and a minority Muslim population; Unrest experienced there between the two religious groups.