Global News Headlines 06/27

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Sunday, June 27, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 TOXICS 

1) More Belgian farms shut in dioxin scare By Gillian Handyside BRUSSELS, June
27 (Reuters) The Belgian authorities froze operations at 68 pig farms
late on Saturday after discovering they had bought piglets from farms
suspected of using dioxin- tainted feed, Belgian RTBF television said
on Sunday. Meanwhile a lawyer for a firm suspected of selling fats
laced with the...

2) Belgian exporters to Japan hit hard by dioxin scare BRUSSELS, June 26
(Kyodo) By: Miu Oikawa Dieter Over the past few  years, Japanese consumers
have come to acquire a taste of Belgium --  from sweet and bitter chocolates
and check-patterned golden waffles, to  hundreds of different kinds of beer.
For Belgian exporters, this surge in the popularity of Belgian products  in...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY 

3) AFP HEADLINE: Georgia battles nuclear waste inherited from Soviet army
BYLINE: Nikolai Topuria DATELINE: TBILISI, June 26 BODY: Georgia is trying
desperately to track down and eliminate more than 200 sources of nuclear
pollution left behind by Soviet forces which once garrisoned the country.
But its resources are limited, while the population is suffering from...

4) The Washington Times June 26, 1999, Final Edition SECTION: PARTA; WORLD;
NORTH KOREA; Pg. A5 HEADLINE: U.S. crew finds no nukes in caverns; Suspected
area unusable for now BYLINE: Toni Marshall; THE WASHINGTON TIMES  BODY: A
suspected nuclear underground site in North Korea has been given the
all-clear after U.S. officials determined that the cavernous facility could...

5) US seeks to end Kashmir conflict as fighting rages on BYLINE: Tauseef
Mustafa BODY: KARGIL, India, June 27 (AFP) The United States Sunday kept up
diplomatic efforts to end the seven-week-old Kashmir conflict but battles
raged on as Pakistan and India stuck to their positions. US Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State Gibson Lanpher held talks in New Delhi with Indian...

6) ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JUNE 25, 1999  ROCKY FLATS PLUTONIUM
DISPOSAL COMPLETED  All plutonium pits at Rocky Flats, a former nuclear
weapons plant near Denver, Colorado, have been removed, and shipments of
nuclear material for disposal are complete, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson
announced today. Plutonium pits are the cores of nuclear weapons that, when...

7) Efforts on for Pakistan's Sharif to meet Clinton KARACHI, Pakistan, June
27 (Reuters) - Efforts are underway to arrange a meeting between
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and U.S. President Bill Clinton to
discuss India and Pakistan's conflict in Kashmir, Pakistan's army
chief said. I cannot say (about the schedule), there are a lot of
contacts going on," the official...

 OCEANS 

8) 06/27 Sea Life Said Threatened by Noise LOS ANGELES (AP) Noise from
supertankers, oil exploration and new military sonar equipment
scrambles the communications systems of sea life, forcing changes in
migration routes and breeding grounds, a new report warns. We're
playing Russian roulette with our oceans, and we can't afford to do
that," said Joel Reynolds, senior...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

9) The Xinhua News Agency HEADLINE: snow-covered areas shrinking in peruvian
andes DATELINE: lima, june 26; ITEM NO: 0626029 BODY: the peruvian andes has
lost more than 11 billion cubic meters of snow in the last 27 years because
of global warming and environmental pollution, an expert said. peruvian
physicist ramiro valdivia told the press on saturday that accelerated...

10) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Three dead, thousands stranded by heavy
rains in southern Mexico DATELINE: MEXICO CITY, June 26 BODY: Three people
have died and thousands are stranded in flooding caused by heavy rains  over
the last 48 hours in southern Mexico, government officials said Friday. In
Acapulco, 27 families were evacuated from a region considered at high risk...

11) NEPAL'S GLACIAL LAKES MAY BURST AGAIN IN MONSOON RAINS  By Deepak Gajurel
KATHMANDU, Nepal, June 25, 1999 (ENS) The heavy rains of the monsoon season
are starting, and scientists warn that glacial lakes situated high in the
Himalayas of Nepal could again burst their banks causing the rivers of
southern Asia to flood. A monsoon climate means strong seasonal winds, a dry...

12) FED: Greens call on govt to back up diesel claim BYLINE: Steve Connolly
BODY: CANBERRA, June 27 AAP - Green groups today called on the government to
back up claims its revised tax deal on diesel fuel with the Australian
Democrats would cut air pollution 40 per cent by 2015. Environment Minister
Robert Hill said new research carried out by the government ahead of the...

13) Govt says tax diesel plans cuts  pollution BYLINE: By Steve Connolly  BODY:
FED: GOVT SAYS TAX DI CANBERRA, June 27 AAP - New  research released by the
federal government today ahead of Senate debate on the diesel fuel rebate
claimed the tax deal with the Australian Democrats would cut air  pollution
40 per cent by 2015. The tax legislation is expected to be formally
passed...

(GREENPEACE)
14) NATION June 25, 1999 HEADLINE: Don't be fooled by propaganda of clean  coal
power plants, NATION BODY: We understand that three coal-fired electricity-
generating plants (Baan Krood power plant, Bor Nork Coal power plant and
Tabsakae power plant) will be built in your community and that these plants
will be using coal from Australia. We are also aware that the  Australian...

15) The Associated Press June 26, 1999 HEADLINE: Century's growth leaves
Earth crowded - and noisy BYLINE: DAVID FOSTER BODY: Lester Brown, global
watchdog, can cite enough looming catastrophes to spoil anyone's day: Water
tables are falling, temperatures are rising, rain forests are shrinking.
Gordon Hempton, professional "sound tracker," faces a simpler problem: It's...

16) The Washington Times June 26, 1999, Final Edition SECTION: PARTA; Pg. A1
HEADLINE: Gore's efficient-car project fuels detractors; Environmentalists
fear it will run 'dirtier' BYLINE: Heather Skale; BODY: Critics ranging from
environmentalists to automakers are calling Vice President Al Gore's pet
project to produce a fuel-efficient car a boondoggle -an environmentally...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

17) DEVELOPMENT-THAILAND:  ELEPHANTS SUFFER ABUSE ... BANGKOK, (Jun. 25) IPS It
is a creature supposed to be Thailand's national animal but in the decade-
long rush to economic "tigerdom" the humble elephant has become a victim of
the country's rampant commercialization and greed. Now animal lovers and
experts say that without concerted effort, the number of elephants in...

18) The Toronto Star June 26, 1999, Edition 1 SECTION: INSIGHT HEADLINE: In the
Middle East, the next conflict will likely flow from water Water flows just
once a week Sandro Contenta TELL DEIR ALLA, Jordan KHLAF HAMDAN'S crop of
beans has withered and died. ''We have no crops, no  money, and no  bread to
eat. Maybe I will leave my land and go to the city,'' says Hamdan, 60,...

19) The Vancouver Sun June 26, 1999, FINAL SECTION: News; B3 HEADLINE: Logging
approved despite warnings: The marbled murrelet's nesting area is threatened
by timber harvest, an expert says. BYLINE: Stephen Hume BODY: B.C.'s NDP
government has ignored objections from its own rare and endangered species
biologist and approved the logging of a small watershed on the west coast of...

20) Vancouver Sun June 26, 1999 FINAL SECTION: Business; D4 HEADLINE: MacBlo
sale not a done deal, MP says: David Anderson warns that Weyerhaeuser's
environmental policies will be under scrutiny. BYLINE: Gordon Hamilton, Sun
Forestry Reporter BODY: Weyerhaeuser needs to explain soon whether it is
going to adopt MacMillan Bloedel's strong environmental policies or else...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

21) The New York Times June 27, 1999 Late Edition - Final SECTION: 4;Page 3;
Column 1; Week in Review Desk HEADLINE: The World: Fear of Feeding; Europe
Loses Its Appetite for High Tech Food BYLINE: CRAIG R. WHITNEY DATELINE:
PARIS BODY: THE beating of a butterfly's wings in one hemisphere, it turns
out, really can cause a hurricane in the other.  Last month, researchers at...

22) Italy says consumer at risk without GMO moratorium ROME, June 26  (Reuters)
Italian Environment Minister Edo Ronchi said the European Union's decision
to halt authorising new genetically modified crops before 2002 was not
enough, warning that without a moratorium consumers remained at risk. In an
interview published in Saturday's edition of Rome daily La Repubblica,...

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