Global News Headlines 12/22

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Wednesday, December 22, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 ATMOSPHERE 

1) The Christian Science Monitor December 22, 1999 SECTION: 
USA; Pg. 1 HEADLINE: The rise of 'unnatural disasters' 
BYLINE: Peter Grier and James N. Thurman, Staff writers of 
The Christian DATELINE: WASHINGTON HIGHLIGHT: As tragedy 
in 
Venezuela shows, humanity's development patterns can BODY: 
Some of the worst weather of the 20th century has occurred ...

2) The Christian Science Monitor December 22, 1999, SECTION: 
WORLD; Pg. 6 HEADLINE: Venezuela mobilizes for disaster 
BYLINE: Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer of The Christian 
Science Monitor DATELINE: CARACAS HIGHLIGHT: From fast 
food 
chains to the first lady, relief efforts are under way BODY:
Before last week's devastating storms struck Venezuela, ...

 ENERGY 

3) WSJ(12/22): Tiny Hydro Plant Makes Deal To Sell Green Power
By Robert Elder Jr. The tide is turning for Jimmy and Linda 
Parker's small hydroelectric plant on the Guadalupe River 
in Cuero. The Parkers had spent 10 years restoring and 
running a 101- year-old hydro plant on the river when the 
flood of the century hit the region in October 1998, all ...

4) Tas: Major Tas wind farm BODY: HOBART, Dec 22 AAP - 
Australia's biggest wind farm will be built on the far 
north-west coast of Tasmania, the Hydro- Electric 
Corporation announced today. Chief executive Geoff Willis 
said the 10.5 megawatt wind farm would be operating in 
January 2001. At full production, the farm will provide all ...

5) The Guardian (London) December 22, 1999 SECTION: Guardian 
Home Pages; Pg. 8 HEADLINE: Ethics policy in shreds as dam 
approved; Government underwrites project in Turkey 
criticised for wide- ranging impact on environment and 
Kurdish population BYLINE: Paul Brown and Kevin Maguire 
BODY: Tony Blair has overruled cabinet colleagues and left ...

6) Canadian Press Newswire Wednesday, December 22, 1999 
National General News Ottawa, Nova Scotia extend petroleum 
exploration moratorium on sensitive fishing grounds  
HALIFAX (CP) - The moratorium on oil and gas exploration on 
Georges Bank, an ecologically sensitive fishing area off 
Nova Scotia, was extended Wednesday until the end of 2012. ...

7) Reuters Norway approves biggest wind power plant NORWAY: 
December 22, 1999 OSLO - Norwegian energy authorities said 
yesterday they had approved a 300 million crown plan to 
build 26 windmills in northern Norway, giving the green 
light to start construction of the country's biggest 
windmill park. ...

 FORESTS 

8) CHINA NEWS December 22, 1999 SECTION: News HEADLINE: 
National park proposed to protect Chi-lan forest BODY: 
Environmentalists and legislators yesterday urged the 
Executive Yuan to establish a national park covering 
Hsinchu, Ilan and Taoyuan to preserve the precious cypress 
forest which has grown along the Chi-lan Range for ...

9) The Gazette (Montreal) December 22, 1999, FINAL SECTION: 
News; A1 / BREAK HEADLINE: Cree rights violated, judge 
rules: In favouring logging firms, Quebec acted 
unconstitutionally for many years in ''open, determined and 
systematic violation'' of the James Bay agreement, a 
Superior Court judge says. BYLINE: JAN RAVENSBERGEN and ...

10) The Northern Echo December 22, 1999 SECTION: Pg. 6 
HEADLINE: FORESTS IN THE COUNTY PASS TOUGH GREEN 
TEST BODY: 
TIMBER from North Yorkshire's forests is to be given an 
international seal of approval after passing stringent 
tests. Independent experts have given the Forestry 
Commission's 53,000 acres of woodland in the county a clean ...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

11) WSJ(12/22):UPDATE:Monsanto Avoids Controversy By Halting 
Bid By Scott Kilman Staff Reporter of The Wall Street 
Journal Monsanto Co.'s decision to scuttle its long-pending 
acquisition of cottonseed giant Delta & Pine Land Co. makes 
moot its promise never to commercialize the so-called 
terminator gene. The experimental biotechnology is hotly ...

12) WSJ(12/22): THE WALL STREET JOURNAL / CALIFORNIA: 
Foods 
Altered Genetically Face Labeling By Mitchel Benson Staff 
Reporter of The Wall Street Journal / California SACRAMENTO 
-- Two Senate Democrats here don't want to wait for the 
federal government to decide whether consumers should be 
warned when they buy genetically modified foods. They want ...

13) THE KOREA HERALD December 22, 1999, HEADLINE: Court 
to 
hear damage claims over genetically -altered tofu BYLINE: 
By Kim Ji-soo Staff reporter BODY: Pulmuone Co., the 
nation's largest tofu manufacturer, and the Korea Consumer 
Protection Board (KCPB) will meet tomorrow at the Seoul 
District Court over the alleged use of genetically - ...

 MILITARY 

14) 12/22 No Breakthrough in Russia-US Missile Talks MOSCOW  
(Reuters) -
Russia and the United States failed to make  headway in a dispute
over U.S. plans to build an  anti-missile defense shield, Interfax
news agency said on  Wednesday, citing unnamed diplomatic 
sources.
U.S. Deputy  Secretary of State Strobe Talbott was in Moscow to
discuss ...

15) Campaign group hits Japan's contradictory nuke policy 
BYLINE: Konosuke Kuwabara DATELINE: TOKYO, Dec. 22 Kyodo 
BODY: campaign group called on Japanese citizens Wednesday 
to unite and press the Japanese government to abandon its 
nuclear -deterrent defense policy. The Japanese 
government's triple principle of banning possession, ...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

16) Deutsche Presse-Agentur December 22, 1999 HEADLINE: At 
least 150 people irradiated by Tokaimura nuclear accident 
DATELINE: Tokyo BODY: Japan's worst nuclear accident in 
September in Tokaimura irradiated at least 150 people, up 
from the original 69 announced earlier, but the radiation 
levels most of them were exposed to were small, Japan's ...

17) Asahi News Service December 22, 1999 HEADLINE: NUCLEAR 
ENERGY STANDS AT A CROSSROADS BYLINE: TORU OMUTA 
DATELINE: 
TOKYO BODY: When a country experiences a major nuclear 
accident, a change of nuclear energy policy inevitably 
follows because of the impact on the region concerned. The 
Three Mile Island nuclear power plant disaster in 1979 ...

18) Asahi News Service December 22, 1999 HEADLINE: OFFICIAL 
TRY TO FEARS ABOUT RADIATION IMPACT DATELINE: TOKYO 
BODY: 
Government officials tried to ease concerns among residents 
living near nuclear facilities in Ibaraki Prefecture, 
following the death on Dec. 21 of JCO Co. employee Hisashi 
Ouchi. ''The residents will not suffer from acute ...

19) The New York Times December 22, 1999, Late Edition - Final 
SECTION: C; Page 6; Column 6; Business/Financial Desk 
HEADLINE: F.T.C. Decides Not to Ban Nuclear Ads BYLINE: By 
MATTHEW L. WALD DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 BODY: 
The 
Federal Trade Commission has agreed with an environmental 
group and the Better Business Bureau that advertisements by ...

20) The Washington Times December 22, 1999, Final Edition 
SECTION: A; WORLD; Pg. A19 HEADLINE: Israel will take 
nuclear reactor off line; Officials prepare for year-2000 
arrival BYLINE: Abraham Rabinovich; THE WASHINGTON TIMES 
DATELINE: JERUSALEM BODY: JERUSALEM - Israel's nuclear 
reactor at Dimona in the Negev desert will be shut down ...

 OCEANS 

(GREENPEACE)
21) Greenpeace says Japanese whaler rams ship BUENOS AIRES, 
Dec 21 (Reuters) - A Japanese whaling ship rammed a 
Greenpeace vessel on Tuesday in the Antarctic waters where 
Minke whales are being hunted, but no one was injured, 
Greenpeace said. The Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru 
rammed the Arctic Sunrise at 2:20 p.m local time (1720 GMT) ...

22) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: TotalFina boss disclaims 
responsibility for slick DATELINE: PARIS, Dec 22 BODY: The 
president of TotalFina, the French oil company which 
chartered the wrecked tanker Erika, disclaimed 
responsibility Wednesday for the oil-spill threatening 
France's Atlantic coast. "International maritime law is ...

23) The Age Online Law set to fight marine invaders By MANIKA 
NAIDOO Thursday 23 December 1999 Victoria is set to become 
the first Australian state to establish a legal framework 
to fight marine pest invasions. 
The Minister for Environment and Conservation, Ms Sherryl 
Garbutt, yesterday released a draft package of measures to ...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

24) NSW: Green ban on McDonald's site BODY: SYDNEY, Dec 22 
AAP 
- A building union today slapped an interim green ban on 
the construction of a McDonald's restaurant in Sydney's 
eastern suburbs, saying it would spoil adjoining parkland. 
Residents are fighting to have plans for the fast food 
outlet "taken away" from the intersection of Anzac Parade ...

25) The San Francisco Chronicle DECEMBER 22, 1999, FINAL 
EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A3 HEADLINE: A Puzzling Decline 
in Butterflies; Even common species like Monarchs are 
scarce in Sacramento Valley BYLINE: Glen Martin, Chronicle 
Staff Writer BODY: Butterfly populations are at an almost 
30-year low in the Sacramento Valley, adjacent foothills ...

 TOXICS 

26) 12/21 Canadian Occidental Buys Two Brazil Chemical Units  
CALGARY
(Reuters) - Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. said  Tuesday its
chemicals unit has become one of the world's  largest producers of
sodium chlorate after buying two  chemicals plants from Aracruz
Celulose SA of Brazil. The  purchase price of the plants, which
produce chemicals used ...

27) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: India's top anti- pollution 
official slams government for inaction DATELINE: NEW DELHI, 
Dec 22 BODY: The Indian government should shut down the top 
authority fighting pollution as most of its recommendations 
remained on paper, the chief of the body said in remarks 
published Wednesday. "There is no point in creating ...

(GREENPEACE)
28) AFX European Focus December 22, 1999 SECTION: 
GOVERNMENT; 
COMPANY NEWS HEADLINE: Greenpeace has ship arrested in 
Antwerp on illegal India toxic scrap plans DATELINE: 
BRUSSELS BODY: Environmental campaigning group Greenpeace 
has succeeded for the first time having a ship arrested in 
Europe after alleging the vessel was to be scrapped ...

(GREENPEACE)
29) The Daily Star Online (Lebanon) December 22, 1999 Features 
Greenpeace releases results of tests from fertilizer factory
Maha Al-Azar Daily Star staff Greenpeace renewed its 
attack on polluters on Tuesday, accusing the Lebanese 
Chemical Company of releasing high levels of toxic 
chemicals into the sea. At a news conference at the ...

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