Global News Headlines 03/20

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Enviro Facts Line >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

March 20, 1998
FROM GREENPEACE, Greenbase Project

<<< TOXICS >>>

  2 South Korea concerned over toxic waste shipped to SEOUL, March 19
(Itar-Tass) -   The South Korean Environment Ministry  has demanded
explanations from Japan in connection with recent reports  that Japanese
companies have transported toxic industrial waste to  North Korea. The South

  3 Xinhua  MARCH  20, 1998, shanghai set to install garbage incinerators
shanghai, shanghai plans to install incinerators to tackle rising problems
resulting from current practices surrounding the use of landfills to either
bury or store  garbage in the open air.  the city plans to incinerate at

  4 AAP NEWSFEED  March  20, 1998,  EUR: MORE THAN 1 BILLION PEOPLE LACK
ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER By Deborah Seward PARIS, March 19 AP - At least five
million people die each year as a result  of filthy water and more will
suffer unless steps are taken to improve water purity, an international

<<< NUCLEAR POWER >>>

<<GP>>
  5 March  20, 1998 Germany-nuclear 11 injured as German police clash with
anti-nuclear demonstrators AHAUS, Germany, March 20 (AFP) - German police
clashed Friday with thousands  of demonstrators attempting to block a train
carrying radioactive nuclear waste  on a controversial journey across

  6 Agence France Presse March  20, 1998 Germany- nuclear -police German
police guarding convoy fear radiation danger COLOGNE, Germany, March 20
German police say they are worried about radiation risks from guarding a
convoy of  nuclear  waste and are asking  environmentalist  protesters to

  7 BBC Summary of World Broadcasts March  20, 1998,  EU commissioner
reinforces call for Ignalina atom plant shutdown Lithuanian Radio (external
service), Vilnius, in Lithuanian 17 Mar 98   EU Commissioner Ritt
Bjerregaard has said that Lithuania's commitment to close down the Ignalina

  8 Bulgaria to seal nuclear plant deal next week SOFIA, March 20 (Reuters)
- Bulgaria's National Electricity Company plans to sign a deal with a
European consortium next week to modernise the two biggest, Soviet-made
reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear plant, energy officials said on Friday.

  9 AAP NEWSFEED March  20, 1998,  NT: ANTI-JABILUKA MINE CAMP SETS UP FOR
MARATHON PROTEST  Wayne Howell DARWIN, March 20 AAP - Anti-uranium mine
protesters will begin converging in Kakadu National Park this weekend to try
to stop construction of the Jabiluka Uranium mine.   Organisers say the

 10 BBC Summary of World Broadcasts March  20, 1998, Nuclear  waste
recycling plant to be funded by Japan ITAR-TASS news agency (World Service),
Moscow, 11 Mar 98 A Japanese-funded floating plant to recycle liquid
radioactive  waste is being built in Russia's Far East, ITAR- TASS news

<<< NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY >>>

 11 US to start series of subcritical nuclear tests   WASHINGTON, March 19
(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy will start a series of underground
explosive tests on radioactive plutonium next week, a spokesman said on
Thursday    Washington says the tests do not violate the Comprehensive

 12 Navy subs collide off LI coast GROTON, Conn., March 20 (UPI) -- Navy
officials are investigating why two nuclear submarines collided off the
coast of Long Island.   The USS San Juan was submerged and the USS Kentucky
was on the surface of the water during maneuvers when they struck each other

 13 Nuclear powers still balk at nuclear-free protocol NASUGBU, Philippines,
March 20 (Kyodo) -- By: Maria Teresa  Villanueva-Cerojano Three nuclear
weapon states still refuse to sign a  protocol to a treaty declaring
Southeast Asia a zone free of nuclear  weapons, despite a compromise

 14 03/19 Pentagon-Uranium  SUSANNE M. SCHAFER WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
Pentagon's specialist on Persian Gulf War illnesses is denouncing a
contention by a veterans group that as many as 400,000 troops may have been
exposed to depleted uranium from shells fired during the war.    Bernard

 15 March  20, 1998 Italy-Mafia  Sicilian Mafia said involved in  nuclear
arms smuggling CATANIA, Sicily, March 20 - Police said Friday they had
seized a rod of  radioactive  uranium and arrested 12 people in a swoop on
traffickers of weapons-grade  radioactive  substances linked with the

 16 COLORADO IS HOME TO 138 ACTIVE NUCLEAR WARHEADS, WASHINGTON  March 19
(States) -- Even though the U.S.  has drasticaly  cut its supply of active
nuclear weapons since the Cold War, Colorado  has the same number of
missiles it had a decade ago, according to a  study released Friday.

<<< OCEANS >>>

<<GP>>
 17 Copyright 1998 InfoLatina S.A. de C.V.  March  20, 1998: HOTEL
DEVELOPMENT THREATENS SEA TURTLES :LAURA DINE Mexico, D. F. According to a
top official at the Mexico World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the  most
important nesting sights for sea turtles may soon be sold to a hotel

<<GP>>
 18 Canada seal hunt set to resume amid protests Robert Melnbardis MONTREAL,
March 19 (Reuters) - Canada's controversial annual seal hunt is poised to
begin, with sealers launching a publicity campaign to battle traditional
protests against the spring cull on the ice floes off the Atlantic coast.

 19 AAP NEWSFEED March  20, 1998,  INDONESIA URGED TO IMPROVE SHRIMP
BREEDING FACILITIES BOGOR, Indonesia, March 20 Asia Pulse - Indonesia could
earn at least US$16  billion in foreign exchange from optimised shrimp
breeding each year if 400,000  ha of its total of 840,000 ha of shrimp

 20 AP NEWSFEED arch  20, 1998, QLD: NO FISHING IN 8 AREAS OF BARRIER REEF
FROM NEXT SUNDAY BRISBANE, March 20 AAP - Eight areas of the Great Barrier
Reef off north Queensland will be out of bounds to fishermen from Sunday,
March 29, while researchers continue studies to assess pressures on fish

<<< ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY >>>

 21 Europe Energy March  20, 1998 CLIMATE CHANGE:  A COMMUNITY INTERIM
TARGET FOR 2005?  HIGHLIGHT: Three months after the hard-won Kyoto agreement
on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there is still an urgent need to
achieve a more accurate definition of the new concepts floated at the

 22 Europe Energy March  20, 1998 AIR  POLLUTION  IN RUSSIA REACHES SERIOUS
PROPORTIONS. BODY:    A total of some 16,000 deaths among the 15 million
people living in Russia's hundred most populace cities are due each
year to air  pollution  by suspended particulates. A study drawn up by

<<< TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY >>>

 23 AAP NEWSFEED March  20, 1998,  US: US VOTES TO HELP PROTECT BRAZIL AND
INDON RAINFORESTS WASHINGTON, March 19 AFP - A measure to help protect
rainforests in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia won overwhelming
support today from the US House of Representatives.  In a 356-61 vote, the

 24 Brazil drops waterway plan to avoid hurting wetlands William Schomberg
BRASILIA, March 20 (Reuters) - Brazil has dropped plans to develop its part
of a major South American waterway project to avoid damaging the Pantanal
wetlands, one of the world's richest ecological areas, a Brazilian official

 25 BBC Summary of World Broadcasts March  21, 1998, Fires reported out of
control, affecting Yanomani indigenous reserves  'Jornal do Brasil', Rio de
Janeiro, in Portuguese 18 Mar 98 The voracious fires that are destroying the
rainforest in Roraima State have  already crossed the border of the Yanomani

 26 03/19 Logging Roads  SCOTT SONNER WASHINGTON (AP) -- Environmentalists
delivered more than 150,000 cards and letters to the Forest Service Thursday
urging expansion of a controversial plan to block road building in unspoiled
sections of national forest.    Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., joined

 27 New Scientist March  21, 1998 Features, Pg. 36 Playing with fire
Fred Pearce HIGHLIGHT: Despite international outrage and the terrible toll
on public health, the incentives for Indonesian farmers to torch vast
swathes of  forest  are as great as ever. Fred Pearce asks what can be done

<<< GENETIC ENGINEERING >>>

<<GP>>
 28 UK RETAILER BANS BIOTECH FOODS LONDON, UK, March 19, 1998 (ENS) - Frozen
food retailer Iceland Group is to exclude food ingredients from genetically
modified crops from its own brand products, the firm announced today. The
move is the most significant yet taken by a mainstream European

 29 New Scientist March  21, 1998 Pg. 11: Pure brew Andy Coghlan HIGHLIGHT:
Why mess with beans when you can grow decaffeinated coffee ? THE world's
first caffeine-free coffee plants will be planted this summer in a
greenhouse in Hawaii. If all goes to plan, beans from the plants will not

ENDS

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