Global News Headlines 01/18

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, January 18, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
------------------------------------------------------------------------

 TOXICS 

1) INTERVIEW- Russian crisis has helped environment By Adam Tanner MOSCOW,
Jan 18 (Reuters) Environmental conditions in Russia have improved in recent
months because of the fall in industrial production since the August
financial crisis, the country's top ecology official said on Monday. "Under
the present economic conditions, the fall in production has inevitably led...

2) Asahi News Service January 18, 1999 HEADLINE: CHIBA MUST DITCH PLAN TO
DESTROY PRECIOUS TIDELAND BODY: Asahi Shimbun said in an editorial: Chiba
Prefecture is promoting a project to fill up Sanbanse, a tideland that
remains in the innermost part of Tokyo Bay. Already 90 percent of the tidal
flats in Tokyo Bay has been reclaimed under the pretext of waterfront...

3) 01/18 OutFront-Autism Cluster By LINDA A. JOHNSON TRENTON, N.J. (AP)
When Bobbie Gallagher's 2-year-old daughter Alanna, still barely
talking, began spinning in circles and obsessively lining up her
toys, Mrs. Gallagher began wondering what was wrong. The little girl
eventually was diagnosed with autism. Then her baby brother was
diagnosed with the disorder. And so were...

4) MIDDLE EAST NEWS ITEMS Jan 18, 1999 HEADLINE: ENVIRONMENT AUTHORITIES
SEEK CLOSURE OF BAIKAL PULP MILL BODY: Environmental authorities in Irkutsk
region, Eastern Siberia, have called on much-criticized Baikal Pulp and
Paper Mill to shut down by April 1, 1999 Campaigners have long accused the
mill of polluting the once pristine Siberian lake. Viktor Loginov, who heads...

5) Asahi News Service Jan 18, 1999 HEADLINE: MITI OFF-TARGET ON PLAN TO BURN
USED CONTAINERS BODY: Asahi Shimbun said in an editorial: The Ministry of
International Trade and Industry is trying to push through a policy so
outrageous that we cannot help but ask: Can this be called recycling? The
proposal calls for burning as ''fuels'' used containers and packaging used...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

6) France, China Sign Contracts on Nuclear Energy Cooperation PARIS (Jan. 18)
XINHUA - France and China have signed several agreements on nuclear energy
cooperation, including an 18-month prolonging of the cycle of exploitation
of the nuclear center in the Daya Bay in Guangdong province, said the
state-owned Framatome nuclear energy company on Monday. These contracts...

7) APW Jan 18, 1999 HEADLINE: Turkey denies it is trying to build Atomic bombs
DATELINE: ATHENS, Greece BODY: Turkey Monday denied accusations made by
Greek officials and media that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons. Its
denial, issued by the Turkish embassy here, comes as Greece intensified an
international campaign to prevent the construction of a nuclear plant on...

8) 01/18 SECURITY MOVES TO GUARD PLUTONIUM SHIPMENTS By Martin Hickman,
Parliamentary Staff, PA News Security moves to protect plutonium
reprocessed in Britain from terrorist attack as it is returned to
Japan were disclosed by the Government tonight. Energy Minister John
Battle said two boats returning the nuclear material converted at
Sellafield for use in Japanese...

9) Bonn rejects French nuclear compensation claims BONN, Jan 18 (Reuters)
The German government and the French nuclear industry clashed again on
Monday over Bonn's decision to cancel lucrative nuclear waste reprocessing
contracts. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder firmly rejected claims from France
that Germany was breaking contractual agreements with its decision to ban...

10) 01/18 UK's BNFL Sees Westinghouse Deal Complete In A Few Week LONDON
(Dow Jones)--State-owned British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (U.BNF) expects
U.S. antitrust clearances within the "next few weeks" for its GBP700 
million purchase of Westinghouse Electric Corp. from CBS Corp. (CBS)
in June, its spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires Monday. The U.S. deal
should be...

11) FED: Hill's Jabiluka campaign embarrassing BODY: - Aborigines JABILUKA
GUNDJEHMI CANBERRA, Jan 18 AAP -Environment Minister Robert Hill's campaign
against UNESCO over the Jabiluka uranium mine was unprofessional and
embarrassing, an Aboriginal group said today. Australia yesterday began an
international campaign to stop Kakadu National Park in the Northern...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY 

12) BBC Summary of World Broadcasts Jan 18, 1999 HEADLINE: Russia to conduct
five subcritical nuclear tests in 1999 SOURCE:Excerpts from report by
'Krasnaya Zvezda' newspaper on 14th January Between 14th September and 13th
December of last year Russian scientists successfully performed a series of
non-nuclear (hydrodynamic or subcritical) experiments involving mock-ups of...

13) Film by arrested officer on ammo dumping shown in ... MOSCOW, January 18
(Itar-Tass) - A film shot by the arrested on espionage charges fleet officer
Grigory Pasko and featuring the moment of dumping old ammunition in the Sea
of Japan, was on Monday shown at a press conference in Moscow. One of the
press conference organizers, president of the Glasnost protection foundation...

14) AP Worldstream January 18, 1999 HEADLINE: Russia strikes back, accusing
West of weapons help to Iran DATELINE: MOSCOW BODY: Russia fought back
against American claims that it was providing weapons technologies to Iran,
accusing the West of helping Iran develop missiles instead, according to an
interview published Monday. Federal Security Service spokesman Alexander...

15) Taiwan hopes to build submarines: newspaper TAIPEI, Jan. 18 (Kyodo) The
United States will likely help Taiwan build diesel-fueled submarines in what
would be a breakthrough for the island's decade-old efforts to acquire
modern submarines to boost coastal defenses, a Chinese-language daily
reported Monday. The United Daily News quoted military sources as saying...

 OCEANS 

16) QLD: Trawling reforms on track, govt says BODY: BRISBANE, Jan 18 AAP -
Reform measures for commercial prawn trawling in Queensland, aimed at
cementing the industry's environmental sustainability, were on track, the
government said. Acting primary industries minister Tony McGrady said the
government, in consultation with industry, was comprehensively addressing...

17) The Telegram (St. John's) Monday, January 18, 1999 Final Editorial 6
Fishery needs `no trawling zones': Scientists say we're wiping out fish and
their habitat BY Ralph Surette ``Nearly two decades after the world began
learning that tropical forests and their biological diversity are being
devastated, it is difficult to imagine that another human disturbance of...

18) Business Day (South Africa) January 18, 1999 SECTION: News; Pg. 2 HEADLINE:
PORT PLAN COULD BE ECOLOGICAL DISASTER' BYLINE: Nicola Jenvey DATELINE:
DURBAN BODY: Durban could become the major container hub on the Indian
Ocean Rim, generating R1bn a year for KwaZulu-Natal's economy, says the
draft environmental impact report on the proposed four-phase development of...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

19) Tropical animals facing hard time over global warming BODY: PAGO PAGO,
American  Samoa, Jan 17 (AFP) - American Samoa's tropical ecosystem is
likely to be adversely affected by global warming, marine scientist
PeterCraig of the National Park of American Samoa said. Plants might do well
in a warmer climate unless there is a drought or conditions that prove...

20) Mainichi Daily News January 18, 1999 SECTION: Page 12; DOMESTIC HEADLINE:
Prefectures taking on emissions BODY: By Kimio Kamoshita Mainichi Shimbun
Local governments across the nation have started working on reducing
greenhouse gas emissions in preparation for the April 1 enactment of a
stringent law to combat global warming. Some governments are finding that a...

21) 01/18 Balmy Alaska By T.A. BADGER ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) The nation's
northernmost community endured its hottest year on record in 1998.
Still, the typical day in Barrow was about as balmy as a typical day
in your freezer. Last year's "heat wave" drove up the average daily
temperature in Barrow to 17 degrees -- remarkably mild for Alaska's
arctic fringe, but...

22) 01/18 Arctic Ozone Loss Could Pose Threat By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
WASHINGTON (AP) Researchers are worried that continued ozone loss
over the Arctic, such as occurred in 1996 and 1997, may allow
dangerous ultraviolet radiation to reach Europe and North America.
But it's too soon to declare a definite trend, they say, noting that
the situation improved a bit last year....

23) Deutsche Presse-Agentur Jan 18, 1999 HEADLINE: Dead Sea is an ozone killer,
scientists say DATELINE: Washington BODY: German and Israeli research
scientists have discovered a new source of ozone destruction. They found
markedly raised levels of bromine oxide - accompanied by a reduction in the
ozone  level - in the air above the Dead Sea salt pans in Israel. Reporting...

24) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: German and Finnish ecology ministers call
for deal on energy tax DATELINE: HELSINKI, Jan 18  BODY: Finnish Environment
Minister Pekka Haavisto and his German counterpart Jurgen Trittin said here
Monday they believe an EU-wide agreement on energy taxation can be reached
soon. Trittin, a member of the Green party, is visiting Haavisto, also a...

25) Bulgaria asks Serbia to explain Danube oil spills SOFIA, Jan 18 (Reuters) -
Bulgaria's Environment Minister Evdokia Maneva on Monday requested
information from neighbouring Serbia about frequent oil spills floating
downstream on the River Danube, an official said. Minister Maneva has sent a
letter to her Serbian counterparts about the source and causes of pollution...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

26) USA TODAY Jan 18, 1999, FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 10A HEADLINE:
Ruling allows draining of wetlands without permits BYLINE:Traci Watson BODY:
Mining companies and developers are now free to drain and dredge wetlands
across the country because of a recent court decision. Forested bogs
already have been cleared in Virginia and wetlands have been drained in...

27) The Guardian (London) Jan 18, 1999 SECTION: The Guardian Home Page; Pg. 12
HEADLINE: Peasant farmers plan to confront Parliament; Disadvantaged workers
aim to deploy Gandhi-style civil disobedience tactics to highlight how free
market policies threaten their lives BYLINE: John Vidal BODY: A boy watches
as water drips from a water well in the Yamuna Pushta area of New Delhi...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

28) THE HINDU Jan 18, 1999 SECTION: News HEADLINE: The Hindu-Editorial-Clearing
the air on biosciences BODY:IF THE BIOSCIENCES are to fulfil their potential
of meeting the challenges in agriculture and health in the next century,
there will have to be greater transparency in research and development and
it is the responsibility of scientists to engage the public in an informed...

29) The Irish Times Jan 18, 1999, CITY EDITION SECTION: HOME NEWS; Pg. 3
HEADLINE: Modified beet 'needs 60% less herbicide' BODY: The crop of
genetically modified sugar beet developed by Monsanto when tested in the
State needed 60 per cent less herbicide than traditional varieties, a
biotechnologist told the conference. This dramatic reduction in weedkiller...

30) The Irish Times Jan 18, 1999, CITY EDITION SECTION: HOME NEWS; Pg. 3
HEADLINE: Call for ban on GM food because of safety fears BYLINE: KEVIN
O'SULLIVAN DATELINE: SKIBBEREEN BODY: If the Government cannot guarantee the
safety of Irish consumers in the face of the widespread introduction of
genetically modified foods, it has no choice but to stop the process, the...

31) AFP HEADLINE: BASF to acquire 40 percent stake in Swedish plant breeder
DATELINE: LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany, Jan 18 BODY: German pharmaceuticals and
chemicals maker BASF said on Monday that it planned to acquire a 40-percent
stake in Swedish plant breeding company Svaloef Weibull AB. The two
companies will also merge all their research operations in the field of...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The above newsclips are to indicate the environment news of the day.
Whole news articles are copyright protected, so unfortunately Greenpeace
cannot distribute them publicly.