41.   Officials said Sunday they would ask other countries to lend fire-fighting planes to help extinguish flames destroying virgin forests in the western Philippine province of Palawan.

42.   On the Thai side, environmentalists criticized the project for cutting through virgin forests.

43.   The reserve, a secluded virgin forest, is home to large numbers of threatened plants and animals.

44.   The prime ministers of Russia and Finland agreed Friday to set up a joint commission to oversee the cutting of virgin forests on their border.

45.   The Yadana pipeline, which will pump energy from neighbouring Burma, has been suspended amid protests by conservationists who say the scheme will ruin rare virgin forests.

46.   They returned Wednesday and told the scientific team to accompany them into the virgin forest.

47.   They fear their remaining virgin forest in the area will be destroyed, he said.

48.   Two babies have died in fires destroying grasslands and virgin forests in the western Philippine province of Palawan, officials said Monday.

49.   Where the old trail penetrates virgin forests that survived the war, loggers have taken over the devastation.

50.   Work on the project was stalled by environmental groups who say the pipeline will destroy areas of the finest virgin forest left in Thailand and endanger wildlife.