Global News Headlines 09/27

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Monday, September 27, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 ATMOSPHERE 

1) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Pledges on the environment 
are tested in small islands: UN chief BYLINE: Robert 
Holloway DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS, Sept 27 BODY: Small 
island countries provide a critical test of pledges made by 
rich industrial states to take action on the environment, 
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Monday. Opening a ...

2) Reuters FEATURE - Natural catastrophes spawn surge in 
disaster studies UK: September 27, 1999 LONDON - As the 
1990s draw to a close with increasingly fearsome  earthquakes,
hurricanes and refugee crises, the problem of  how to cope is fast
becoming a subject for practical and  academic study the world over. ...

3) BBC Online Monday, September 27, 1999 UK World: Americas  
Great Lakes in danger Levels are lower than in the 1950s 
drought By Lee Carter in Toronto Scientists have warned 
that water levels at North America's Great Lakes are at 
their worst this century. 
Experts at a conference examining the state of the lakes ...

4) New Scientist September 25, 1999 SECTION: This Week, Pg. 10
HEADLINE: Mean machines BYLINE: Andy Coghlan (Sheffield) 
HIGHLIGHT: Truly efficient turbines would slash greenhouse 
emissions BODY: EMISSIONS of carbon dioxide from the 
world's power stations could be halved by swapping steel 
turbine blades for nickel- based blades like those used in ...

 ENERGY 

5) 09/27 UK Govt Mulls Excluding CHP, Renewables From Energy  Tax
BOURNEMOUTH, England (Dow Jones)--The U.K. government is "looking
very carefully" at the possibility of exempting  combined heat and
power and renewable energy from the  planned tax on energy
consumption for business users,  Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary
at the Treasury, said ...

6) FOCUS-Veba/Viag form utility giant, plan expansion By Paul 
Carrel MUNICH, Germany, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Germany's Veba 
AG agreed a 13.5 billion euro ($14.1 billion) takeover for 
Viag AG on Monday to create the third-largest utility in 
Europe's rapidly consolidating power industry. Veba's offer 
includes 11.89 billion euros in shares and a 1.59 billion ...

7) Xinhua General News Service HEADLINE: nigeria's oil firms 
get ultimatum on pollution DATELINE: lagos, september 27; 
ITEM NO: 0927202 BODY: major oil and gas companies 
operating in nigeria's niger river delta have been given 
six weeks to submit proposals on remedial measures over 
environmental pollution to the ministry of environment. the ...

8) ASIA PULSE HEADLINE: CHINA TO SPEED UP DEVELOPMENT OF 
NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY DATELINE: BEIJING, Sept 27 BODY: 
China's natural gas industry will develop quickly in the 
21st century, according to experts here. Chinese Ministries  and
departments concerned are studying draft policies aimed  at opening
the natural gas industry wider to the outside ...

9) Reuters No reason to ban Georges Bank exploration - panel 
USA: September 24, 1999 BOSTON - There are no pressing 
environmental reasons to extend a moratorium on oil and gas 
exploration in the Canadian waters of Georges Bank, U.S. 
scientists said yesterday. 
Jerry Schubel, president of the New England Aquarium, told ...

 FORESTS 

10) WSJ(9/27): Clear-Cutting In US South Is Latest Forestry 
Flap By Dean Starkman Staff Reporter of The Wall Street 
Journal PARSONS, Tenn. -- Herbert Volner, who has lived all 
his 70 years here near the Tennessee River, walks a craggy 
ridge that until last month held a forest of oak trees. 
Now, it is a lunar landscape of stumps, dead branches and ...

11) The Independent (London) September 27, 1999 SECTION: NEWS; 
Pg. 9 HEADLINE: CAMPAIGN TO SAVE 'RAINFORESTS' OF BRITAIN 
LAUNCHED; THREATENED WOODLAND OUR COUNTRYSIDE'S MOST 
VALUABLE HABITAT HAS SHRUNK TO LESS THAN A MILLION ACRES, A 
MERE 2% OF THE AREA IT ONCE COVERED BYLINE: Michael 
Mccarthy Environment Correspondent BODY: A NATIONAL ...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

12) 09/27 EU Ag Mins Resist Plan To Speed Up Biotech Feedmeal  Rules
BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--European Union agriculture  ministers Monday
rejected an Austrian proposal to speed up  the adoption of rules on
labeling animal feed that contains  genetically modified organisms.
The Austrian agriculture  minister, attending an E.U. agricultural
ministers' council ...

13) Cargill favours voluntary labelling of GMO food SHANGHAI, 
Sept 27 (Reuters) - Cargill Inc, expecting a long, hard 
fight to persuade consumers to accept genetically modified 
organisms (GMO), favours labelling to identify the new 
crops, chairman Ernest Micek said on Monday. "People want 
the freedom of choice," he told a business breakfast ...

(GREENPEACE)
14) 09/27 UK May Grow Commercial GM Crops Before Trials End By  Dominic
Evans LONDON (Reuters) - Britain sparked fresh  anger from
environmental activists Monday by refusing to  rule out commercial
growing of controversial genetically  modified crops before a
three-year trial period is  complete. "If the trials for a particular
crop were ...

15) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Biodegradable plastic grown 
from plants DATELINE: PARIS, Sept 27 BODY: Genetic 
engineers in the United States have grown plants which 
produce an environmentally -friendly plastic that holds out 
great commercial promise, the monthly journal Nature 
Biotechnology reports. The plastic, they hope, could be ...

16) The Irish Times September 27, 1999 SECTION: CITY EDITION; 
HOME NEWS; Pg. 3 HEADLINE: Ahern queried on GM crop lobbying
The argument for separate regulations on feeds and human 
food is hard to defend given food chain links BYLINE: By 
KEVIN O'SULLIVAN, Environmental and Food Science 
Correspondent BODY: The Taoiseach has been asked to respond ...

17) Japan Economic Newswire HEADLINE: Thailand to declare GMO 
-free zones DATELINE: BANGKOK, Sept. 27 Kyodo BODY: 
Thailand will establish agricultural zones declared free of 
genetically modified organisms ( GMOs) in a bid to promote 
exports, a senior government official said Monday. 
'Agricultural products from GMO -free zones exported to ...

18) Reuters Brewers say no GM maize in British beer UK: 
September 27, 1999 LONDON - British brewers have done 
their utmost to make sure no genetically modified maize is 
used in beermaking, an industry spokesman said after a 
third big Japanese brewer said it was going GM-free. 
"As far as I'm aware no British brewer actually uses ...

19) New Scientist September 25, 1999 SECTION: This Week, Pg. 5 
HEADLINE: Coming a cropper BYLINE: Andy Coghlan HIGHLIGHT: 
Government blunders are putting engineered crop tests at 
risk BODY: BRITAIN's mammoth experiment to test whether 
genetically modified crops pose a greater hazard to 
wildlife than conventional varieties has been thrown into ...

(GREENPEACE)
20) NATIONAL NEWS: Monsanto held secret talks with green 
groups Financial Times ; 27-Sep-1999 Monsanto, the US 
biotech company, is so worried about the public's negative 
response to genetically modified crops that it has staged a 
series of confidential meetings with the environmental 
groups most opposed to GM foods. ...

 MILITARY 

21) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Iraq, NKorea urged to come 
clean on nuclear stocks BYLINE: Michael Thurston DATELINE: 
VIENNA, Sept 27 BODY: The world's nuclear powers called 
Monday on Iraq and North Korea to come clean on their 
nuclear activities and stocks, saying there was "no 
alternative" to full compliance. US Energy Secretary Bill ...

22) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: US, Russia unveil 
remote-control nuke monitoring technology DATELINE: VIENNA, 
Sept 27 BODY: The United States and Russia on Monday 
unveiled new technology designed to monitor nuclear fuel by 
remote control, to be used under a joint agreement to 
reduce nuclear stockpiles. US Energy Secretary Bill ...

23) The New York Times September 27, 1999, Late Edition - 
Final SECTION: A; Page 12; Column 5; National Desk 
HEADLINE: Nuclear Site Is Battling A Rising Tide of Waste 
BYLINE: MATTHEW L. WALD DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 BODY:
A giant radioactive souffle is rising toward the top of a 
million-gallon tank of nuclear bomb waste buried in the ...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

24) 09/27 ENFORCEMENT ORDER FOLLOWS NUCLEAR SPILLAGE By Paul  Hunter, PA
News An environmental agency today took action  against BNFL after
700 gallons of radioactively  contaminated water was spilled at a
nuclear power station.  The Scottish Environment Protection Agency
(SEPA) said it  had issued an enforcement order against British
Nuclear ...

(GREENPEACE)
25) The Daily Yomiuri September 28, 1999 SECTION: Pg. 2 
HEADLINE: Demonstrators protest arrival of nuclear fuel 
BYLINE: Yomiuri DATELINE: FUKUSHIMA BODY: Officials of 
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) heaved a sigh of relief 
early Monday when a ship carrying mixed oxide (MOX) fuel 
docked safely near Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in ...

26) SUNDAY HERALD (Glasgow) 26 September 1999 'Sloppy' 
nuclear power plant faces tough new legal threat By Rob 
Edwards Publication Date: Sep 26 1999 Scotland's oldest 
nuclear power station is facing tough and unprecedented 
legal action for breaking safety rules and polluting the 
environment, the Sunday Herald can reveal. ...

 OCEANS 

27) Animal rights campaigners blame trawlers for death of 83 
seals CANBERRA, Sept 27 (AFP) - Australian animal rights 
campaigners blamed speeding fishing trawlers Monday for the 
deaths this year of 83 seals caught in fishing nets off the 
west coast of Tasmania. The Humane Society International 
said the seals were caught in nets by three large New ...

28) The Mirror September 27, 1999 SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 17 
HEADLINE: SECRET NUCLEAR DUMPING SHOCK; POWER CHIEFS ADMIT 
TO 40 EXTRA TOXINS BYLINE: John Bald BODY: A CONTROVERSIAL 
power plant has been secretly dumping 40 types of nuclear 
waste into the sea for a decade, it was revealed yesterday. 
Radiation experts said they were "shocked" after Torness ...

29) New Straits Times (Malaysia) September 27, 1999 SECTION: 
National; Pg. 9 HEADLINE: More islands will be gazetted as 
marine parks BYLINE: By Ainon Mohd DATELINE: Pulau Redang 
BODY: PULAU REDANG, Sun. - The Fisheries Department will 
gazette more offshore islands as marine parks as a further 
measure of protection for coral and marine life. Its deputy ...

(GREENPEACE)
30) The Guardian (London) September 25, 1999 SECTION: Guardian 
Travel Pages; Pg. 14 HEADLINE: Hidden extras: Troubled 
waters; Sue Wheat wades through sewage, industrial waste 
and radioactive particles to welcome the start of World 
Maritime Week BYLINE: Sue Wheat BODY: Few people may know 
that this is World Maritime Week. Images of dusty museums ...

 TOXICS 

31) 09/27 EU executive worries about resistence of EU nation  ... By RAF
CASERT Associated Press Writer BRUSSELS, Belgium  (AP) -- Despite a
slew of food crises over the past months,  EU Health Commissioner
David Byrne complained Monday about  continuing resistance of some EU
nations to strengthen ...

32) AP Worldstream September 27, 1999 HEADLINE: Hong Kong 
mulling pollution controls on its factories in China 
DATELINE: HONG KONG BODY: Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa is 
considering imposing the territory's pollution regulations 
on Hong Kong-owned factories in mainland China, in an 
attempt to curb worsening cross-border pollution, a ...

(GREENPEACE)
33) AFX News September 27, 1999 HEADLINE: GM to abandon use of 
PVC in auto interior panels BODY: AMSTERDAM (AFX) - General 
Motors Corp said it is abandoning the use of polyvinyl 
chloride (PVC) in its auto interior panels. The company 
said its rollout of non-PVC materials began in May for all 
future vehicles. By 2004, GM expects to use non-PVC ...

(GREENPEACE)
34) EVENING CHRONICLE (Newcastle, UK) September 25, 1999, 
Saturday Edition 1 SECTION: FEATURES, Pg. 20 HEADLINE: 
Green Scene BODY: THE practice of painting ship hulls with 
anti-fouling paint has been raising some concerns and few 
eyebrows of late after it was discovered the paint contains 
sex-changing hormones. In recent years more and more ...

35) The New York Times September 27, 1999 Late Edition - Final 
SECTION: B; Page 5; Column 3; Metropolitan Desk HEADLINE: 
Malathion Spraying May Affect Monarch Butterlies BYLINE: 
TINA KELLEY BODY: Every year in September and October, many 
thousands of monarch butterflies pass through New York City 
on their way from the Northeast and Canada to Mexico for ...

 X-OTHER-X 

36) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Bombs and bullets toll for 
Sri Lanka's elephants BYLINE: Amal Jayasinghe DATELINE: 
COLOMBO, Sept 27 BODY: Sri Lanka's long-running Tamil 
separatist conflict is not just a story of human suffering. 
Wild beasts, especially elephants, have fled southward to 
escape the bloody fighting in the island's northeast, but ...

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