  Charged multiplicities in nucleus--nucleus collisions are calculated in the
Dual Parton Model taking into account shadowing corrections. Its dependence on
the number of collisions and participants is analyzed and found in agreement
with experiment at SPS and RHIC energies. Using these results, we compute the
$J/\psi$ suppression at SPS as a function of the transverse energy and of the
energy of the zero degree calorimeter. Predictions for RHIC are presented.
