Global News Headlines 01/19

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Tuesday, January 19, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 TOXICS 

(GREENPEACE)
1) Added tests on Cambodia waste urged as more found By Robert Birsel PHNOM
PENH, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Environmental experts said on Tuesday further tests
must be conducted on nearly 3,000 tonnes of toxic waste dumped in southern
Cambodia as authorities found more of the mercury-laced material near a
beach. Tests so far have shown some of the waste, imported from Taiwan late...

(GREENPEACE)
2) Cambodia urged to ink int'l treaty on hazardous waste PHNOM PENH, Jan. 19
(Kyodo) By: Puy Kea International environmental organizations called on the
Cambodian government Tuesday to immediately ban the import of hazardous
waste and ratify an international convention on controlling the movement and
disposal of such waste. The call by Greenpeace International, Basel Action...

3) Toxic chemicals found on grounds of 3 Sharp plants OSAKA, Jan. 19 (Kyodo)
Harmful organic chlorine compounds have been detected at levels greatly
exceeding Japan's environmental standards on the grounds of three Sharp
Corp. factories in western Japan, local government officials said Tuesday.
Dichloromethane was found in groundwater on the premises of a Sharp factory...

4) 01/19 Negotiations On Toxic Chemical Curb To Begin In Kenya UNITED
NATIONS (AP)--More than 100 countries meet next week to start
negotiating the first global treaty to limit 12 toxic chemicals, with
environmentalists and the chemical industry at odds over whether the
goal should be a total ban. The targeted chemicals, known as the
"dirty dozen," include pesticides such as...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

5) Greece says experts should assess Bulgaria N- plant SOFIA, Jan 19
(Reuters) Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos said on Tuesday Bulgaria
should discuss the safety of its Kozloduy nuclear plant with competent
international authorities. Asked about the safety of the Soviet-made atomic
plant in northern Bulgaria, Pangalos, who is on a one-day visit to Sofia,...

6) 01/19 FARMS EDGE OUT OF CHERNOBYL DANGER ZONE By PA News Reporter The
long shadow of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion was today lifted from
7,200 sheep in Scotland but 40,000 more are still being monitored.
Restrictions on the movement of sheep are being lifted on three farms
but remain in place on 20 farms with 40,400 sheep between them,
officials said. The affected farms are...

7) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: German Chancellor Schroeder to meet nuclear
industry DATELINE: BONN, Jan 19 BODY: Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will meet
with German nuclear industry executives next Monday, a day ahead of an
official round of government talks with the industry on phasing out nuclear
energy, a government spokesman said Tuesday. Nuclear industry executives...

8) BBC Summary of World Broadcasts January 19, 1999, HEADLINE: Macedonia
denies plans to store nuclear waste SOURCE: Radio Macedonia, Skopje, 15 Jan
99  BODY: In connection with the information published in the Athens
daily ' Kathimerini', about the alleged storing of nuclear waste on
Macedonian territory, the Information Ministry has announced that the
Republic of...

9) Deutsche Presse-Agentur January 19, 1999 HEADLINE:  FEATURE: Breaking up is
hard to do - especially a  nuclear  reactor BYLINE:  By Klaus Hiemer, dpa
DATELINE: Kahl, Germany  BODY: One of the biggest  obstacles to  Germany's
planned phasing out of  nuclear power is not only  the  compensation being
sought by operators but the immense cost of  dismantling the power stations...

10) 01/19 Activist Booed at France Nuke Plant LA HAGUE, France (AP)
Greens Party activist Daniel Cohn- Bendit was targeted with eggs and
tomatoes during a visit Tuesday to France's state-run nuclear
reprocessing plant, which is at the center of a growing row between
France and Germany. Some 500 workers at the plant, known as COGEMA,
booed and threw food at Cohn-Bendit,...

11) UK-German row brews over threatened nuclear trade By Rosemary Bennett
LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) A row looked set to erupt between Britain and
Germany on Wednesday over Bonn's plans to phase out nuclear power and scrap
valuable contracts with a British nuclear reprocessing plant.  Political
sources said Trade Secretary Stephen Byers would tell German environment...

12) DEVELOPMENT-THAILAND: GOV'T TOYS WITH NUCLEAR BANGKOK, (Jan. 17) IPS
Energy demand is plummeting with the  recession, but Thai authorities are
pushing ahead with plans to  develop the country's nuclear power capability,
activists say. Thailand's environmental groups allege that surreptitious
moves toward building nuclear plants are underway, even as government...

13) BBC Summary of World Broadcasts Jan 20, 1999, HEADLINE: First fast breeder
nuclear reactor to come on stream in 2001 SOURCE: [11] Excerpts from report
by the Indian news agency PTI Kalpakkam, 12th January: Work on India's first
fast breeder power reactor to generate 500 MW of electricity will start in
2001, atomic energy officials have said. The plant, to be built at a
cost of...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY 

14) The Moscow Times January 19, 1999 SECTION: No. 1624 HEADLINE: Urals Town
Vote Rejects U.S. Rocket Fuel Plant BYLINE: Andrei Zolotov Jr. BODY: In a
referendum Sunday, residents of the Ural Mountains town of Votkinsk voted
overwhelmingly against a $ 54 million U.S. government-funded project to
build a rocket fuel processing facility in their backyard. A local court is...

15) The Moscow Times Jan 19, 1999 SECTION: No. 1624 HEADLINE: Pasko's Backers
Want Navy Charged BYLINE: Oksana Yablokova BODY: Moscow-based supporters of
Grigory Pasko, a naval captain awaiting trial on treason charges after
exposing the Pacific Fleet's dumping of nuclear waste, appealed to the
Prosecutor General's Office on Monday to open a criminal case against those...

16) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Fissile materials ban tops agenda at UN
disarmament conference DATELINE: GENEVA, Jan 19 BODY: Representatives of 61
countries gathered here Tuesday for the start of a UN disarmament conference
aimed at negotiating a ban on fissile materials for nuclear weapons. The
session, the first of three this year, is expected to continue until March...

 OCEANS 

(GREENPEACE)
17) FED: Greenpeace says it will fight bid to expel it from IWC BODY: CANBERRA,
Jan 19 AAP -  Greenpeace today said it would fight a bid by Japan to expel
it from attending International Whaling Commission meetings as an observer.
In a statement today Greenpeace Oceans campaigner Denise Boyd said a closed
meeting today and tomorrow at the UK headquarters of the International...

(GREENPEACE)
18) Inter Press Service HEADLINE: SOUTH PACIFIC: JAPAN TRIES TO SINK WHALE
SANCTUARY PLAN BYLINE: Andrew Nette DATELINE: MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 19
BODY: Japan's government is attempting to scuttle an Australian plan to
create a new sanctuary for whales in the South Pacific, say
environmentalists and Australian government officials. The plan, which has...

19) Financial Times (London) Jan 19, 1999, LONDON EDITION 1 SECTION: ASIA-
PACIFIC; Pg. 08 HEADLINE: Asia's slash and burn harvest of the profitable
shrimp: Ted Bardacke and Jonathan Birchall on the environmental cost of a
hit and run industry: BODY: Standing on a bleak mud embankment where lush
green paddy fields give way to a brackish pond, shrimp farmer Nguyen Quoc...

20) The Telegram (St. John's) January 19, 1999 Final Business 27 More study
needed on bank drilling: scientists  A panel hearing views  on whether to
lift a drilling moratorium on the lucrative Georges Bank fishing ground
heard from an array of federal fisheries scientists Monday. But the
scientists wouldn't draw conclusions about the environmental safety of...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

(GREENPEACE)
21) Times Colonist (Victoria) Jan 19, 1999 Final Special Section D7 Fuel
revolution eyed BY G. E. Mortimore Sun power at low cost is moving closer,
says David Gourlay of Greenpeace Canada. ``If we took all the subsidies off
fossil fuels and nuclear power and diverted the money into the solar
industry, we would have enough money in one year to bring down solar to a...

22) ENVIRONMENT-CHINA: DEGRADATION MELTS YANGTZE'S MIGHT BEIJING, (Jan. 18)
IPS To veteran journalist Wang Yongchen, the Jianggudiru Glacier remains as
fascinating today as when she first saw it some five years ago. But the
senior reporter for the Beijing-based National Radio admits that the ecology
of the source area for China's longest river, the Yangtze, seems to be...

23) THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (LONDON) January 19, 1999, SECTION: Pg. 10 HEADLINE:
Algae 'holds key to global warming' BYLINE: Roger Highfield Science Editor
BODY: SCIENTISTS are to use several tons of iron to fertilise the waters off
Antarctica to create a bloom of micro-organisms that could scrub greenhouse
gases from the Earth's atmosphere. The experiment will be conducted by an...

24) The Calgary Sun Tuesday, January 19, 1999 Final Business 51 GOING GREEN
WILL NET GREEN; GOODALE TRUMPETS ENVIRONMENTAL PACT BY PAUL JACKSON, CALGARY
SUN  Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale is convinced his government's
'Climate Change' programs will be a boon to energy and environmental
industries. That's even though Premier Ralph Klein has warned adhering to...

25) WORLD BANK WANTS PUBLIC COMMENT ON ENERGY POLICY WASHINGTON, DC, January
15, 1999 (ENS) The World Bank is taking the unusual step of seeking
public comment on its environmental strategy for the energy sector.
James Bond, director of the Energy, Mining, & Telecommunications
Department and Robert Watson, director of the Environment Department
say comments from the public...

26) TASS River safe from oil leak after Nefteyangank pipeline rupture BYLINE:
Vladimir Zuikov DATELINE: NEFTEYUGANSK (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area),
January 19 - Cleanup teams prevented a 14-tonne oil leak into the river
Konnya near Nefteyugansk after a pipeline rupture, local experts said on
Tuesday. The oil line ruptured due to corrosion last week at the pump...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

27) Vancouver Sun January 19, 1999 Final Business D1/FRONT Forest firms
can't afford to buy new equipment BY Gordon Hamilton You won't see 100-tonne
grapple yarders and giant heli-logging choppers on display at this year's
Truck Loggers Association convention.  Instead, look for small accessories
and rebuilt parts as the biggest logging convention and trade show in...

28) Where has all the Forest Gone Nairobi (All Africa News Agency, January
18, 1999) While the controversial Kararu Forest saga continues in
Kenya, few remember the suffering Kakamega Rainforest. It is the only
equatorial rainforest left in Kenya, and one of two remaining in East
Africa, the other one being Kibale Forest in Western Uganda. The
struggle between the...

29) New wood genetics could revolutionise timber industry BYLINE: Gordon
Feeney  BODY: MELBOURNE, Jan 19 AAP - World-first genetic technology to make
eucalypt trees grow faster and produce stronger paper could revolutionise
the pulp and paper industry, saving millions of dollars a year, a scientist
said today. It will allow us to make custom-designed paper for the various...

30) Deutsche Presse-Agentur January 19, 1999 HEADLINE: China losing its trees
for single-use chopsticks DATELINE: Beijing BODY: China's dwindling forests
are being nibbled away to provide disposable chopsticks for use both
domestically and abroad, the official media reported on Tuesday. The
Guangming Daily cited Japan, which boasts 65 per cent forest coverage and...

31) The New York Times Jan 19, 1999, Late Edition - Final SECTION: A; Page
10; Column 1; National Desk HEADLINE: Environmentalists Battle Growth
of Ski Resorts BYLINE: JAMES BROOKE DATELINE: GEORGETOWN, Colo., Jan.
18 BODY: Next weekend, skiers here are to inaugurate the world's
highest chair lift. Whisking 1,200 skiers an hour to a 12,700- foot
ridge, the lift will offer...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

32) 01/19 MODIFIED FOODS BANNED AS BRITISH BEEF SUPPORTED By Eileen
Murphy, PA News Schools, canteens and meals on wheels services across
the country are banning genetically-modified (GM) foods from their
menus. A sample survey of local authorities conducted by the Food
Commission found that a large number were rejecting GM food and food
ingredients from school meals. One  such...

33) 01/19 Gene Research ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) In an effort to provide a
valuable resource of genetic data on key crops, the Agriculture
Department will set up a national gene research center at Cornell
University. The new facility, the Center for Bioinformatics and
Comparative Genomics, is expected to open this spring, said Judy St.
John, an associate deputy administrator with the...

 OTHERS 

34) Inter Press Service HEADLINE: CENTRAL AMERICA-AID: RESEARCHERS OFFER
SEEDS OF HOPE BYLINE: By Abid Aslam DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Jan. 19  BODY:
Agricultural researchers have launched an international effort to help
farmers in Honduras and Nicaragua feed their countries after a devastating
hurricane that slammed Central America last October. Seeds of Hope for...

35) AMERISCAN: JANUARY 18, 1999 PROSECUTION OF ECO-CRIMES LOWER UNDER CLINTON
Prosecution of environmental crimes has fallen during the Clinton
administration, according to an analysis of federal records by the union
that represents federal employees in the environmentally-related agencies.
Public Employees for environmental Responsibility, based in Washington,...

36) BBC Summary of World Broadcasts January  19, 1999, HEADLINE: Greens say
foreign fleets "posing serious threat to Gulf's ecosystem" SOURCE: Text of
report by the Iranian news agency IRNA Tehran, 17th January: Iran's Green
Front in a statement issued on Sunday [17th January] warned that presence of
foreign navy fleets in the Persian Gulf poses serious threat to the Gulf's...

37) The Guardian (London) January 19, 1999 SECTION: The Guardian Home Page; Pg.
9 HEADLINE: Satellite to keep an eye on space pollution; Scientists
hope the monitor device launched today will promote a clean-up of
cosmic waste. Tim Radford describes its operation BYLINE: Tim Radford
BODY: A NEW eye in the sky is about to take the measure of a
pollution problem that is literally...

38) International Herald Tribune Jan 19, 1999, SECTION: Opinion; Pg. 6: It's
Getting  Late to Switch to a Viable World Economy BYLINE:Lester Brown and
Christopher Flavin DATELINE: WASHINGTON BODY: The bright promise of a new
century is clouded by unprecedented threats to the stability of the natural
world. Rapid deforestation, falling water tables and accelerating climate...

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