News In Brief

Austrian chancellor shelves plans to clear dam site

Austrian Chancellor Fred Sinowatz, under intense pressure from environmentalist protesters, has shelved plans to clear a controversial hydroelectric dam site at Hainburg, on the Danube.

Some 2,000 conservationists have been camping at the site to prevent what they regard as the destruction of the Auwald, one of Europe's last primeval forests. A nationwide movement has demanded a referendum to decide if the Hainburg dam should be built at all.