Global News Headlines 04/14

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Thursday, July 15, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 TOXICS 

(GREENPEACE)
1) NATION July 14, 1999, Wednesday HEADLINE: Greenpeace tells US to aid in
Bor Fai clean-up BYLINE: PENNAPA HONGTHONG BODY: INTERNATIONAL environmental
agency Greenpeace joined local villagers and environmental activists in
calling on the United States to take responsibility for dioxin contamination
in the Bor Fai area.  The groups are to protest in front of the US Embassy...

2) Food industry owes Belgian banks 10 bln euros- CBF BRUSSELS, July 15
(Reuters) - Belgian banks hold around 10 billion euros ($10.22 billion) of
outstanding debt owed by the country's food companies, the sector most
affected by the recent dioxin crisis, the Banking and Finance Commission
(CBF) said on Thursday. The figure is an upper-end estimate of the credit...

3) USA TODAY July 15, 1999, FIRST EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 9A HEADLINE: Much
of U.S. ground water is tainted -- report BYLINE: Traci Watson DATELINE:
BODY: A wide-ranging government report concludes that much of the nation's
ground water and many of its streams are contaminated  with pesticides and
unhealthy levels of fertilizer chemicals. In most cases, the tested waters...

4) EU takes governments to court over chemicals BRUSSELS, July 15 (Reuters)
The European Commission said on Thursday it was starting legal action
against five European Union governments for failing to put into place laws
to reduce pollution from highly toxic chemicals. Germany, Greece, Spain,
Portugal and Britain will be taken to the European Court of Justice for...

5) The Irish Times July 15, 1999, CITY EDITION SECTION: HOME NEWS; Pg. 14
HEADLINE: River  Pollution BODY: Only 67 per cent of Irish rivers are now
classified as unpolluted. That is 10 per cent less than a decade ago, and
reflects a continuing trend of decline in their water quality going back
more than 25 years. More rivers are affected by slight to moderate pollution...

6) BUSINESS LINE July 15, 1999 SECTION: Business HEADLINE: INDIA-Greens
concern over waste disposal along Karnataka coast BODY: Our Bureau
MANGALORE, July 14 AS cities develop along the Karnataka coast, the question
of how to dispose of the waste generated is one of the central concerns of
environmentalists, fisherfolk and citizens' groups in the Dakshina Kannada...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

7) Slovakia seeks to calm Austria's nuclear safety fear By Mark Thompson
VIENNA, July 15 (Reuters) - Slovak President Rudolf Schuster on Thursday
sought to ease Austria's concerns about the safety of Slovakia's nuclear
power stations, which threaten to hamper its bid to join six other countries
in talks on EU membership. Schuster, visiting Austria on his second foreign...

8) Lithuanian PM links reactor close to EU membership HELSINKI, July 15
(Reuters) - Lithuanian Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas said on Thursday that
closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant could be carried out more
efficiently once his country was a member of the European Union.  Paksas
told reporters after talks with Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen that...

9) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE, New setback to German nuclear phase-out plan
GERMANY: July 15, 1999 KARLSRUHE  - The operator of Germany's oldest nuclear
reactor yesterday rejected a plan under which it would be the first to be
decommissioned under a government pledge to phase out atomic energy
altogether.  The refusal was a new blow to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's...

(GREENPEACE)
10) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE, BNFL deal to show reprocessing uneconomic - Greens
UK: July 15, 1999 LONDON  - The part-privatisation of British Nuclear Fuels
will put the spotlight on nuclear reprocessing, exposing it as uneconomic,
environmental groups said yesterday.  "The privatisation process  should
expose all the hidden costs associated with spent nuclear waste fuel...

11) 07/15 Idled Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Damaged Twice In A Week KIEV
(AP) A nuclear fuel rod was damaged during repairs at the only
operational reactor at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Thursday, but the incident caused no radiation leaks, a plant
spokesman said. It was the second problem reported at reactor No. 3
since it was stopped for repairs July 1.   Repair...

12) Radiation at nuclear plant hit 11,500 times limit TSURUGA, Japan, July 15
(Kyodo) Japan Atomic Power Co. said Thursday the contamination level
following a massive leak of radioactive water at its Tsuruga nuclear power
plant in Fukui Prefecture on Monday registered a maximum of 11,500 times the
upper radiation limit. The company said Wednesday the contamination level...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY 

13) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: China says it mastered neutron bomb
technology without need to spy BYLINE: Robert J. Saiget DATELINE: BEIJING,
July 15  BODY: China announced publicly for the first time Thursday that it
had mastered the technology to build a neutron bomb, publishing detailed
notes on its  nuclear weapons programme aimed at refuting US allegations of...

14) WRAPUP-China drops nuclear hint in Taiwan tempest By Dan Martin TAIPEI,
July 15 (Reuters) Communist China, facing continued defiance from
Nationalist-ruled Taiwan in a war of words over the island's status, added a
nuclear element to its verbal arsenal on Thursday by saying it had neutron
bomb technology. For its part, Taiwan's government dug in its heels in the...

15) Accused Russian nuclear ``spy'' faces new problems ST PETERSBURG,
Russia, July 15 (Reuters) A former Russian naval captain accused of treason
and espionage said on Thursday his lawyers were having problems preparing
his case because of new secrecy restrictions. Alexander Nikitin, who accused
the Russian navy of dumping nuclear waste in the Arctic Sea, and one of his...

16) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Reporters' group condemns detention of spy
trial journalist DATELINE: MOSCOW, July 15  BODY: Rights group Reporters
sans Frontieres (RSF) on Thursday condemned the continued detention of
Russian naval captain Grigory Pasko, who is on trial for espionage. In a
letter to Justice Minister Pavel Krasheninnikov the French-based...

  OCEANS 

(GREENPEACE)
17) 07/15 Norway impounds Greenpeace boat for whaling season OSLO
(Reuters) - A Norwegian magistrates court ruled Thursday that police
could impound a boat belonging to the international environmental
group Greenpeace until the end of the whaling season on Aug. 1. The
vessel, Sirius, and 17 Greenpeace activists were detained by the
coast guard Monday after a North Sea protest...

(GREENPEACE)
18) Australian Broadcasting Corporation Tuna endangered says Greenpeace 15
July, 1999 (8:04am CST) Greenpeace says court proceedings against Japan
underline the need for southern bluefin tuna to be listed under the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The tuna
industry says that while in Tokyo recently, the Prime Minister did not raise...

(GREENPEACE)
19) The Anchorage Daily News July 15, 1999, Pollock rules allow fishing Boats
gamble regulations won't change in midcatch  By NATALIE PHILLIPS Daily News
reporter  Alaska's most lucrative fishery - the Bering Sea pollock fishery -
will start Aug. 1, despite a federal court ruling last week that found
existing fishing regulations do not protect the endangered Steller sea lion....

20) Times Colonist (Victoria) July 15, 1999 Final News  A1/FRONT  Fish take
priority over politics, minister says BY Judith Lavoie Fisheries Minister
David Anderson knows he is alienating constituents and annoying his friends,
but he believes saving salmon is more important than his political future.
Rallies attracting hundreds of people have been held in Victoria and Sooke...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

21) Climate change confab pushes use of regional network OTSU, Japan, July 15
(Kyodo) An international seminar on climate change decided Thursday to
promote the increased use of an Internet-based data network for exchanging
information and research about global warming in the Asia-Pacific region.
The decision to encourage wider use of the Asia-Pacific Network on Climate...

22) BusinessWorld July 15, 1999 SECTION: Pg. 12 HEADLINE: Country hosts first
climate change data center in Asia BODY: Global warming has been identified
as the cause of extreme weather disturbances (from El Nino to La Nina) that
have curtailed food production, destroyed vital infrastructure, disrupted
the economy and disturbed the ecosytem.  Extreme weather conditions have...

23) The Canberra Times July  15, 1999, Thursday Edition SECTION: Part A; Page
9 HEADLINE: OUR ESCAPE CLAUSE ON GREENHOUSE GAS BODY: UNDER the Kyoto
Protocol, Australia is committed to reducing its greenhouse-gas
emissions to 108 per cent of our 1990 emission levels in 2008. This
may sound clear, but nothing is ever really clear or simple in
international agreements - it is...

24) Christian Science Monitor July 15, 1999 SECTION: FEATURES; IDEAS; Pg. 18:
New evidence heats up climate debate BYLINE: Robert C. Cowen, Special to The
Christian Science Monitor DATELINE: WASHINGTON HIGHLIGHT: We're still
getting warmer - but not as quickly as we thought BODY: A surprising thing
happened to global warming on the way to the databank. Scientists expected...

25) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Moscow braces for all-time record heat
DATELINE: MOSCOW, July 15  BODY: Moscow braced for the hottest day in the
city's known history Thursday as  forest  fires raged outside the Russian
capital and doctors advised people to drink plenty of liquids and stay
indoors. Temperatures reached 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit)...

26) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Bangladesh floods force half a million from
their homes in one district DATELINE: DHAKA, July 15  BODY: Floods have
forced at least half a million people from their homes in one district of
Bangladesh and drinking water is scarce there, a Red Cross official said
Thursday. The situation in Comilla "is very, very serious with at least...

27) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: 27,000 threatened as heavy rains pound
Hungary DATELINE: BUDAPEST, July 15  BODY: Torrential rains have threatened
some 27,000 people and 11,500 homes in Hungary, where thousands of people
have already been evacuated and buildings destroyed in the past week,
emergency services said Thursday. Since Saturday, six people have died in...

28) FEATURE-Big business to Hong Kong ``Clean up'' By Tan Ee Lyn HONG  KONG,
July 15 (Reuters) - The air in Hong Kong is getting so bad even big business
is getting worried. Citizens have long cried out against the choking exhaust
that has turned the skies above this city of 6.8 million people into a hue
of constant grey regardless of the weather. Their calls are now being joined...

29) The Irish Times July 15, 1999, CITY EDITION SECTION: BUSINESS & FINANCE;
Pg. 21 HEADLINE: Woods sees bright future for energy from waves BYLINE: By
DICK AHLSTROM, Science Editor BODY: Wave energy captured off the Irish
coastline could supply up to 40 per cent of national demand according to the
Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, who has announced details of a North/...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

30) THE HINDU July 15, 1999 SECTION: News HEADLINE: Endangered flora and
fauna BODY: THE DECLARATION of Pachmarhi hill station in Madhya Pradesh as
the State's first biosphere reserve by the Union Ministry of Forests and
Environment should cheer environmentalists who might have felt despondent
over what might have  looked like a despairing lack of interest on the part...

31) The Washington Times July 15, 1999 Final Edition SECTION: PART A; NATION;
Pg. A10 HEADLINE: Protected lynx shot in southern Colorado; Another setback
for recovery program BYLINE: Valerie  Richardson; THE WASHINGTON TIMES
DATELINE: DENVER BODY: DENVER -  Colorado's embattled lynx-recovery program
took another hit this week when wildlife officials announced that a male...

32) First photos taken of rare Javan rhino in Vietnam HANOI, July 15 (Reuters)
Automatic cameras have taken the first photographs of a critically
endangered rhinoceros in Vietnam, the World Wide Fund for Nature said on
Thursday. The WWF said only five to eight of the one-horned rhinos, a
sub-species of the Javan rhinoceros, were thought to survive in Vietnam,...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

33) The Guardian (London) July 15, 1999 SECTION: Guardian Leader Pages; Pg. 22
HEADLINE: It's rape of one form or another; Trials to test if GM plants harm
wildlife are a nonsense. They do BODY: The genetically engineered poplar
trees hacked down by protesters on Sunday night posed, according to Zeneca,
the company which had planted them, 'minimal risks" to the environment. It...

34) Japan firms smell opportunity in non-GMO foods By Aya Takada TOKYO, July 15
(Reuters) As plans brew in Japan for labelling foods containing genetically
modified organisms (GMO), companies see potential in marketing food without
GMOs sought by consumers concerned about safety, industry officials say. A
government committee is scheduled to decide on GMO labelling regulations for...

35) BUSINESS LINE July  15, 1999 SECTION:  Business HEADLINE: Perpetuating
biotech  hazards  BODY: Given the US FDA's admission that it operates under
a directive 'to foster' the American biotech industry, it is crucial to
probe the role of the Department of Biotechnology  and the ICAR in promoting
untested technology in India. By this, not only have the agencies put the...

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