Global News Headlines 08/26

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Thursday, August 26, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 TOXICS 

(GREENPEACE)
1) 08/25 Greenpeace highlights Mexican metals violations MEXICO CITY
(Reuters) - Environmental group Greenpeace Wednesday called for
tougher sanctions against metals industries across Mexico it said
were damaging the health of children and pregnant women. The group
wants the government to take penal action against metals producer
Met-Mex Penoles in Torreon, partially closed...

2) ASIA PULSE HEADLINE: AUSTRALIAN WARNING ISSUED ON PNG MINE RISKS DATELINE:
PORT MORESBY, Aug 26, 99 BODY: Papua New Guinea's $ A1.33 billion ($US 84
million) Ramu nickel mine project had the potential to cause great
environmental and social damage, Australia's mining "watchdog", the Mineral
Policy Institute (MPI), claimed today. Investors also risked being open to...

3) The Irish Times August 26, 1999, CITY EDITION SECTION: WORLD NEWS; Pg. 10
HEADLINE: Lead pipes create poisoning risk in French tap water BYLINE:  LARA
MARLOWE DATELINE: PARIS BODY: Hundreds of years from now, scientists
analysing the bones of 20th century Parisians may discover that they - like
the ancient Romans - died prematurely of lead poisoning. The Romans stored...

4) EU probes Belgian claim of dioxin signs in imports BRUSSELS, Aug 26
(Reuters) The European Commission on Thursday said it had asked for further
information from Belgium following comments from the country's agriculture
minister that imported meat had shown signs of dioxin contamination. Belgium
is required by European Union law to test its own meat products for high...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

(GREENPEACE)
5) Australian Senate condemns Japan plutonium shipment SYDNEY, Aug. 26 (Kyodo)
The Australian Senate passed a motion Thursday expressing serious concern a
shipment of weapons-grade plutonium is traveling past Australia and through
the Pacific Ocean on its way to Japan. The motion, moved by the Labor
opposition and carried with the support of minor parties, says the shipment...

(GREENPEACE)
6) BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union - Political August 26, 1999 HEADLINE:
GREENPEACE COORDINATOR SAYS NUCLEAR WASTE SITUATION IN RUSSIA IS
CATASTROPHIC SOURCE: Excerpts from report by Russian NTV on 26th August
Presenter We will discuss the issue of the storing and processing  nuclear
waste with Greenpeace antinuclear campaign coordinator Ivan Blokov...  What...

7) MINISTER: NO DECISION TAKEN ON IMPORTING RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS TO RUSSIA
BODY: MOSCOW. Aug 26 (Interfax) The Russian government on Thursday did not
take any decision on the possible storing and processing of foreign
radioactive materials in Russia, Minister for Atomic Energy Yevgeny Adamov
said at a press conference in the government building on Thursday. He quoted...

8) The Guardian (London) August 25, 1999 SECTION: Guardian Home Pages; Pg.
10 HEADLINE: Atomic age's biggest hurdle; In the third of his series
on the nuclear industry, Paul Brown examines the problem of
Dounreay's decommissioning BODY: Taking a fast breeder nuclear
reactor to bits is as difficult as building it in the first place,
especially since the scientists...

9) FOCUS-Sydkraft protests Swedish N-power ruling By Inger Sethov  OSLO, Aug
26 (Reuters) - Swedish power group Sydkraft AB on Thursday
accelerated efforts to kill Sweden's plan to close the firm's nuclear
power reactors, calling for the European Union to overrule a national
court decision. Sydkraft asked the EU Commission to rule invalid a
June decision by Sweden's...

10) FED: Community outrage at reactor approval BODY: LUCAS REACTION SYDNEY,
Aug 25 AAP - Residents and environmental groups were outraged today at a
decision to build a new nuclear reactor in southern Sydney.  A federal
parliamentary inquiry found the new facility should proceed at Lucas
Heights, replacing Australia's ageing reactor at the site which is to be...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY 

11) 08/26 FOCUS-Yeltsin hails 50 years of Russia A-bomb MOSCOW (Reuters)
- President Boris Yeltsin on Thursday praised Russia's nuclear
scientists ahead of Sunday's 50th anniversary of the first Soviet
atomic test. By their selfless labors half a century ago, our
scientists, engineers, workers and military personnel laid a powerful
basis for Russia's nuclear shield,"...

12) Deutsche Presse-Agentur August 26, 1999 HEADLINE: NEWS FEATURE: Mourning
marks 50th anniversary of first Soviet A-bomb DATELINE: Moscow BODY: At 7.30
a.m. on August 29, 1949, just 150 kilometres from the town of Semipalatinsk
in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan, the first test explosion of a
Soviet atomic bomb rent the sky asunder. Beyond marking the birth of the...

13) 08/26 Study: Risk Low From Colo. Plant By JUDITH KOHLER DENVER (AP) A
study on cancer risks stemming from secret radioactive and chemical
releases at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant found few
dangers, though warned of new risks caused by the ongoing cleanup.
The nine-year study, released Thursday, is the most exhaustive
examination of public risks from...

 OCEANS 

(GREENPEACE)
14) INTERVIEW-Salt-maker defends huge new Mexico plant By James Crombie MEXICO
CITY, Aug 26 (Reuters) A Mexican-Japanese salt company on Thursday defended
plans to build a massive new salt works beside Latin America's largest
wildlife sanctuary, saying it violated no laws and would benefit the local
community. The project is absolutely within environmental impact laws,"...

15) ENN Half of worlds' turtles face extinction, scientists say Thursday,
August 26, 1999  Nearly half of the world's turtle species face possible
extinction, due in large part to the growing use of turtles as sources for
food and medicinal ingredients, freshwater turtle experts attending an
international conference concluded earlier this month.  While the plight of...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

16) 08/26 Renewables vs. Nuclear: Britain Faces Kyoto Gap By Duncan
Shiels LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is headed for a sticky
environmental dilemma if it is serious about cutting greenhouse gas
emissions into the next century: can it be done without a nuclear
revival? With nuclear energy producing 30 percent of the country's
electricity and almost no carbon dioxide, analysts...

17) Rotting reservoir makes French Guiana big polluter LONDON, Aug 25
(Reuters) Rotting vegetation in a reservoir that supplies electricity for
Europe's Ariane space programme has made French Guiana one of the world's
biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, a magazine said on Wednesday.
Scientists estimate the Petit-Saut  reservoir in the tiny French colony on...

18) 08/26 Singapore minister: Haze from Indonesian fires ``al...
SINGAPORE (AP) Singapore's environment minister said Thursday that
"alarming fires and haze" in the region prompted Southeast Asian
environment ministers to call an urgent meeting to discuss the
situation. "Our last ministerial haze meeting was held in Malaysia
barely seven weeks ago," Lee Yock Suan told...

19) 08/26 Turkish refinery fire caused major pollution - UN By Osman
Senkul IZMIT, Turkey (Reuters) - An oil refinery fire ignited by the
earthquake in northwest Turkey has caused widespread pollution of
land, sea and air, a U.N. official said in report seen by Reuters
Thursday.  Vladimir Sakharov, a member of U.N. Disaster Assessment
and Coordination (UNDAC), said in a...

20) THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON) August 26, 1999 SECTION: Pg. 10 HEADLINE: Bad
weather means good news on air pollution BYLINE: Charles Clover, Environment
Editor BODY: THE biggest improvement in air quality since records began in
1993 was announced yesterday by John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister.
He was forced to  admit, however, that most of the improvement last
year came about...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

21) 08/26 Home Depot To Limit Wood Sales By JAMES PILCHER ATLANTA (AP)
Home Depot, the nation's largest home-improvement retailer, will stop
selling wood from environmentally endangered areas, a move that one
environmental group said was "great victory for the  forests." The
chain that claims it sells more lumber than any other single company
in the world, announced...

22) BusinessWorld August 26, 1999 ECTION: Pg. 20 HEADLINE: Less than tenth of
country's forest cover to be left by 2010 BYLINE: R. L. Villanueva BODY:
Only 6.6% of the  30-million-hectare total Philippine land area will be
forested by 2010 if the trend in the decrease of forest cover continues, an
environmental organization yesterday warned. The Environmental Science for...

23) The Canberra Times August 26, 1999, Thursday Edition SECTION: Part A;
Page 10 HEADLINE: NOTHING STANDS STILL IN INDON FORESTS BODY: THE PRESENT
economic and political uncertainty in Indonesia is having a dramatic impact
on the country's forests.  It is revealed in the damage caused by decades of
inefficient management and unplanned exploitation. Before the crisis, huge...

24) Aust govt plans future of NSW south east forests BODY: NSW: SOUTH-EAST
FORES SYDNEY, Aug 26 AAP - The federal government today signed off on a
20-year plan designed to end years of antagonism between
conservationists and loggers in the New South Wales south east
forests. Prime Minister John Howard said the Eden Regional Forest
Agreement (RFA) was an agreement...

25) The Toronto Star August 26, 1999, Edition 1 SECTION: NEWS HEADLINE:
PROPOSED BILL WOULD PROTECT SPECIES' HABITATS BODY: Edison Stewart OTTAWA -
Environment Minister David Anderson wants to make it a crime to develop land
in ways that destroy habitats essential to endangered species. ''Nobody
should be able to destroy an entire species by anti-social behaviour of that...

26) Reuters EU welcomes new U.S. plan on hormone-free beef EU: August 26,1999
BRUSSELS - European Union officials welcomed a U.S. announcement of a plan
to allow hormone-free beef exports to restart as a sign that the United
States had tightened up its controls in line with EU demands. "We always
said they should do more tests.  If they are in line with our requirements,...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

(GREENPEACE)
27) German official wants to see clear rules on crops WASHINGTON, Aug 26
(Reuters) - Politicians in Europe and the United States need to set clear
rules for the treatment of genetically modified crops, German Agricultural
Minister Karl- Heinz Funke said on Thursday of the sensitive European issue.
The grain industry and other businesses involved with the new food products...

28) 08/26 LEGAL CHALLENGE DELAYS NEW GM CROP TRIALS By Martha Linden, PA
News A new set of genetically modified crop trials could be delayed
for up to a year after a legal challenge by environmental
campaigners, it emerged today. Plans to plant winter oilseed rape on
four 25-acre sites today  are now on hold after an application for a
judicial review by Friends of  the...

29) Africa News August 26, 1999 SECTION: NEWS, DOCUMENTS & COMMENTARY HEADLINE:
South Africa; SA will soon know what it is eating BYLINE: Louise Cook and
Sapa-AFP, Business Day (Johannesburg)  BODY: Johannesburg - The Chamber of
Baking says it will "do whatever it takes" to ensure that the labelling of
genetically modified food in SA is done satisfactorily. Chamber GM Peter...

 OTHER 

30) BusinessWorld August 26, 1999 SECTION: Pg. 20 HEADLINE: First environment
law center in Asia to be established BYLINE: Earl Warren B. Castillo BODY: A
local environmentalist-lawyer is taking his crusade to "heal" the
environment a step further. Lawyer Antonio Oposa is setting up an
environmental law center-or clinic-in the University of the Philippines (UP)...

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