Global News Headlines 01/13

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Wednesday, January 13, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 TOXICS 

(GREENPEACE)
1) National Post January 13, 1999 NATIONAL EDITIONS SECTION: FINANCIAL POST;
Pg. C09 HEADLINE: Town of Asbestos gets a second life : Strong local
support: Magnola will be the first plant to convert asbestos tailings  to
magnesium metal BYLINE: Robert Gibbens DATELINE: ASBESTOS, Que.  BODY:  A
metal that will help carmakers double or even triple their fuel efficiency...

2) AP Worldstream January 13, 1999 HEADLINE: Lawyers seek more tests on
Cambodian toxic waste dump, exposed villagers DATELINE: PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
BODY: Lawyers in Cambodia representing villagers living next to a toxic
waste dump on Wednesday urged  that more tests be conducted on the site and
the people exposed to the  mercury-laced material. Legal Aid of Cambodia...

3) National Post January 13, 1999 NATIONAL EDITIONS SECTION: FINANCIAL POST;
Pg. C01/Front HEADLINE: Spaniards want Boliden to keep its mine shut: Miner
downplays report: Park board protests - and its head is environment minister
BYLINE: John Schreiner DATELINE: VANCOUVER BODY: Boliden Ltd.'s effort  to
reopen its Los Frailes zinc mine in southern Spain appears to have suffered...

4) The Guardian (London) January 13, 1999 SECTION: The Guardian Society Page;
Pg. 4 HEADLINE: Dust junkies; Pesticides sprayed on to crops in US cotton
fields are finding their way into the UKf ood chain. Erin Gill reports on a
menace in the skies BYLINE: Erin Gill BODY: Visiting California's San
Joaquin Valley during the  cotton harvest is a frightening experience. Once...

5) The New York Times Jan 13, 1999 Late Edition - Final SECTION: F; Page 5;
Column 3; Dining In, Dining Out/Style Desk HEADLINE: EATING WELL; Plastic
Wrap and Health: Studies Raise Questions BYLINE: Marian Burros BODY: PLASTIC
wrap seals so many everyday foods in the supermarket, from cheese to meat,
that it's easy to take it for granted. But now there is a new worry about...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

(GREENPEACE)
6) The Moscow Times January 13, 1999 SECTION: No. 1620 HEADLINE: Swiss Want
to Use Russia as Nuclear Dump BYLINE: By Melissa Akin BODY: Staff Writer The
Nuclear Power Ministry is conspiring with Swiss nuclear power operators to
change Russian law so Russia can earn billions of dollars by allowing the
Swiss to dump their spent nuclear fuel here, Greenpeace  charged Tuesday....

7) U.S. hopes to resolve uranium dispute with Russia WASHINGTON, Jan 12
(Reuters)- U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said on Tuesday he hoped to
resolve problems soon with a deal in which the United States agreed to buy
500 tons of highly enriched uranium from Russia to fuel American
commercial nuclear power reactors. We hope soon to bring to closure 
the recent issues...

8) Ukraine not ready to receive processed nuclear waste. KIEV, January 12
(Itar-Tass) - Ukraine is not ready to receive processed nuclear fuel from
the Krasnoyarsk plant for storage. "I do not think special storages are
being constructed in the country," Ukrainian Minister of Environmental
Safety Vasily Shevchuk said on Tuesday. Under a bilateral agreement, the...

9) Bonn coalition mends rift over nuclear shutdown BONN, Jan 13 (Reuters)  -
Germany's centre-left coalition government has cleared up its differences on
how to phase out nuclear power ahead of key strategy talks on the issue
later on Wednesday, a government spokeswoman said. The preparatory work
seems to have been so good that it doesn't look like we can expect any...

10) 01/13 Physicists Race For Way To Destroy Nuclear Waste LONDON
(Reuters) - European and American physicists are in a race to come up
with a viable solution to destroy hazardous radioactive waste with a
neutron treatment called transmutation, the New Scientist reported
Wednesday.  The magazine said transmutation might destroy the
existing inventory of deadly plutonium,...

11) Financial Times (London) January 13, 1999, SURVEY EDITION 1 SECTION:
SURVEY - FINANCIAL TIMES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY; Pg. 14 HEADLINE: Planning
for the worst, hoping for the best: YEAR 2000: FOCUS ON THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY
by Christopher Price: Around the world, nuclear power experts have been
striving to ensure that the millennium changeover is disaster-free. But...

12) National Post January 13, 1999 NATIONAL EDITIONS SECTION: FINANCIAL POST;
Pg. C09 HEADLINE: Utilities spend millions to beat Y2K clock DATELINE:
TORONTO BODY: Canadian electric utilities are more prepared than the average
North American utility for year 2000 computer and telecommunications
problems, the Canadian  Electricity Association claims. 'We need to be...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY 

13) The Washington Post Jan 13, 1999 Final Edition SECTION: A; Pg.
A17HEADLINE: Sanctions Imposed on 3 Russian Institutions; U.S. Cites
Missile, Nuclear  Aid to Iran BYLINE: Thomas W. Lippman, Washington Post
Staff Writer BODY: The Clinton administration imposed economic penalties on
a Russian university and two scientific research institutes yesterday after...

14) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Russian institute linked with Iran
protests innocence DATELINE: MOSCOW, Jan 13 BODY: One of three Russian
institutes blacklisted by the United States for its links with Iran denied
Wednesday that it had leaked sensitive technology or know-how to the Islamic
state. The Mendeleyev University, which specialises in chemical technology,...

 OCEANS 

15) Bangladesh to Sign Ocean Charter DHAKA (Jan. 13) XINHUA - Bangladesh will
sign the Ocean Charter formulated by the United Nations to preserve the
ocean environment. The decision was made at an inter-ministerial meeting on
signing of the charter held here Tuesday, according to an official handout
available  here Wednesday. The signing will take place after approval of the...

16) The Times (London) January 13, 1999, SECTION: Home news HEADLINE:  Navy
to remove oil from sunken war grave BYLINE: Gillian Harris BODY: Gillian
Harris on a clean-up that will leave the wreck of HMS Royal Oak intact and
reduce the threat to wildlife in Scapa Flow FOR 60 years HMS Royal Oak has
lain undisturbed, a grave for the 833 men who died when the battleship was...

17) Australia to crack down on Barrier Reef trawlers CANBERRA, Jan 13 (Reuters)
- Australia announced on Wednesday it would impose a maximum A$1 million
(US$630,000) fine for illegal prawn trawling in the Great Barrier Reef World
Heritage Area to help protect vulnerable marine life.  Following a
scientific assessment on the impact of trawling on the reef, the government...

18) 01/13 Plans To Restore Fisheries Sought By JOHN HUGHES WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Environmental groups today said the government has failed to
craft plans to restore the nation's fisheries as Congress required it
to do in a landmark 1996 law. The government and eight regional
fishery management councils have, at best, done "the minimum they
could get away with" under the...

19) FED: ACF warns reef at risk of being listed as endangered BODY: CANBERRA,
Jan 13 AAP - The Great Barrier Reef was at risk of being listed as
endangered by the World Heritage Bureau unless the federal and Queensland
governments made an effort to protect it, conservationists warned today. The
warning by the Australian Conservation Foundation  (ACF) follows a letter by...

20) Bangkok court gives nod to continue Hollywood filming BANGKOK, Jan. 13
(Kyodo) By: Supalak Ganjanakhundee Thailand's civil court Wednesday rejected
a second request by opponents of Hollywood filmmaker Twentieth Century Fox's
shooting of a movie on Phi Phi Island for an emergency court order to halt
the filming on the grounds the idyllic southern island's natural environment...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

(GREENPEACE)
21) BP Amoco proposes UK energy tax plan By Peter Lardner LONDON, Jan 13
(Reuters) - Oil giant BP Amoco proposed on Wednesday a specific tax scheme
which would entice British firms to cut greenhouse gases and fight global
warming, but said such taxes should only be used as a last resort. Rodney
Chase, president and deputy chief executive of the newly merged company...

22) Bulgaria hit by big oil spill along Danube River SOFIA, Jan 13 (Reuters)
Bulgarian authorities were alarmed on Wednesday by a huge oil spill floating
along the Danube River, civil defence officials said. The slick, first
noticed upstream near the western most town of Vidin late on Tuesday, was 55
km (34.2 miles) long and 300 metres (328 yards) wide and was moving...

23) The Times (London) January 13, 1999 SECTION: Home news HEADLINE:  Coastline
is on edge of collapse BYLINE: Nick Nuttall BODY: Experts fear that the
Beachy Head collapse will be followed by others, reports Nick Nuttall THE
Government was told yesterday to act urgently to counter the danger of
further coastal erosion in the wake of the landslide at Beachy Head....

24) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Dutch bank to help finance wind farm in
southern China DATELINE: AMSTERDAM, Jan 13  BODY: The Dutch bank ING said
Wednesday it would co-finance a 31.7- million-dollar wind farm in Shantou,
southern China, under a Dutch government programme to promote environmental
projects abroad. A Chinese firm, NUON, will provide 10.5 million  dollars,...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

25) Forest Fires Threaten Vietnam's Environment  HANOI (Jan. 13) XINHUA -
Forest fires threatened Vietnam's  environment, Vietnam News Agency (VNA)
reported Tuesday. A fire lasting from January 4 to January 11 ruined more
than 400 hectares of protective forest and natural forest in Vietnam's
northern mountainous province of Bac Kan. The fire broke out in Nhu Co...

26) NSW: Green coalition starts  forests  election campaign BYLINE:By James
Lane  BODY: SYDNEY, Jan 13 AAP - The New South Wales government was put on
notice today by a coalition of green groups campaigning to direct
preferences away from the major parties in six key marginal seats in the
runup to the March state election. The groups are angry with the Carr Labor...

 OTHERS 

27) The Guardian (London) Jan 13, 1999 SECTION: The Guardian Society Page;
Pg. 4 HEADLINE: Modem warfare; E-mail and the Net are revolutionising the
way environment, human rights and social justice groups work. John Vidal on
the new democracy and ideas emerging from cyberspace and their potential to
counter oppression BYLINE: John Vidal BODY: Twelve environmental justice...

28) THE KOREA HERALD January 14, 1999 SECTION: News HEADLINE: Korea, China,
Japan vow to pool resources to protect environment BODY: Environment
ministers of Korea, Japan and China yesterday agreed to boost cooperation
among the three countries to prevent further environmental pollution in Far
East Asia. We shared the view that the three-way cooperation in the field of...

29) ASIA PULSE HEADLINE: INDIA, BRAZIL SEEK TO LIMIT WORLD BANK PANEL AUTHORITY
SOURCE: World Bank DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Jan 13  BODY: India and Brazil have
proposed limiting the scope of the environmental panel of the World Bank
(WB) to see whether bank guidelines are being followed by bank-aided
countries. Both the countries, led by the major developing countries, insist...

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