Global News Headlines 01/19

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, January 19, 2000
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
------------------------------------------------------------------------

 ATMOSPHERE 

1) WSJ(1/19): Cairo Is Shrouded In Smog By Christopher Cooper 
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal CAIRO -- The fog 
fell like a curtain, shrouding the Giza pyramids in gloom 
and reducing the ambitious laser show that rang in the year 
2000 to a multicolored blur. Or, at least that's the  official
version of what happened. Yassir Zaki, one of the ...

2) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: France set to adopt plan to 
cut greenhouse gases DATELINE: PARIS, Jan 19 BODY: The 
French government was expected to adopt Wednesday a 
nationwide plan, including a tax on polluters, aimed at 
cutting emissions of so-called greenhouse gases blamed for 
global warming. The scheme, due to be approved late ...

3) Reuters Dry weather a concern in the Americas USA: 
January 19, 2000 NEW YORK - Dry weather spawned by La Nina 
may affect spring sowings in the U.S. and make for a dry 
summer in South America, said a meteorological report from 
Salomon Smith Barney made available yesterday. 
Jon Davis said in the weather section of the Outlook 2000 ...

4) BBC Online Sci/Tech 19 January, 2000, Air clean-up plan 
launched A campaign to encourage the public to help cut 
air pollution is being launched following claims that UK 
air quality is now worse than ever. 
Environment Minister Michael Meacher is due to unveil a 
scheme to make dramatic cuts in the amount of exhaust fumes ...

 ENERGY 

5) 01/19 Pipeline Spill Into Rio's Guanabara Bay Termed  Disaster RIO DE
JANEIRO (AP)--More than 100,000 gallons of  crude oil spewed out from
a broken pipeline, polluting  beaches and endangering plant and
animal life in what could  be the worst ecological disaster to hit
Rio de Janeiro  state in a decade, authorities said on Wednesday. The
spill ...

6) AP Worldstream January 19, 2000 HEADLINE: Three Gorges dam 
construction speeds up, resettlement plan changes DATELINE: 
BEIJING BODY: Construction workers will pour 5.4 million 
cubic meters (189 million cubic feet) of cement this year 
as work on the mammoth Three Gorges dam project 
accelerates, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported ...

7) Financial Times Online Wednesday January 19 2000 World 
News / Americas Gore attacked over Colombia oil project By 
Matthew Jones Environmentalists and human rights activists 
are accusing Al Gore, the US vice-president and candidate 
for the Democratic party presidential nomination, of 
hypocrisy over his shareholding in an oil company ...

 FORESTS 

8) Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business & Market News Wednesday, 
January 19, 2000 SECTION Forest Products Study Shows Impact 
of Chip Mills on North Carolina Timber Industry By Bruce 
Henderson, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. 
Jan. 19--Logging has increased in the N.C. Piedmont and 
mountains along with the growth of chip mills, according to ...

9) AP Worldstream January 19, 2000 HEADLINE: Hun Sen orders 
suspension of governor over logging scandal DATELINE: PHNOM 
PENH, Cambodia BODY: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has 
ordered the suspension of the entire leadership of a 
northeastern province for its alleged involvement in 
illegal log exports. Mondulkiri Gov. Chhaom Bunkhan and his ...

10) Press Association Newsfile January 19, 2000 HEADLINE: 
INSURANCE FIRMS 'IGNORING GREEN AND ETHICAL ISSUES' BYLINE: 
Mark Atherton, Personal Finance Correspondent, PA News BODY:
UK insurance companies were today accused of failing to take
environmental and social issues seriously. The report, by 
Friends of the Earth, said the great majority of investment ...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

11) THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON) January 19, 2000 SECTION: Pg. 
08 HEADLINE: Politics: GM crops Organic farmers 'must accept
contamination' BYLINE: Marie Woolf, Political Correspondent  BODY:
ORGANIC farmers will have to accept contamination of  food they grow
by genetically modified crops, the new  agriculture minister
responsible for GM food told MPs. Her ...

12) The Ottawa Citizen January 19, 2000, FINAL SECTION: News; 
A14 HEADLINE: Scientists, academics create GM watchdog 
BYLINE: James Baxter BODY: A group of prominent Canadian 
scientists and academics has joined the battle against 
genetically engineered foods by creating a watchdog 
organization to oversee their testing and approval by ...

13) The Toronto Star January 19, 2000, Edition 1 SECTION: 
BUSINESS HEADLINE: UNIVERSITY DISMISSES MODIFIED FOOD STUDY 
BYLINE: Stuart Laidlaw BODY: A University of Guelph 
scientist challenging the safety of genetically modified 
foods is being criticized as ''unethical'' by her boss and 
''silly'' by a colleague. The comments drew accusations the ...

14) Reuters Wide testing of GMO corn, cotton in Asia  
SINGAPORE: January 19, 2000 SINGAPORE - Many countries in 
Asia, including Thailand and India, are testing genetically 
modified (GM) corn and cotton despite European consumer 
scepticism over the technology, a Monsanto official said. 
Charles Martin told Reuters in a recent interview that ...

15) The Globe & Mail Online Europe's food stance would harm 
legitimate exports, Peter Cook says Peter Cook Wednesday, 
January 19, 2000 Brussels -- When she is asked why 
Americans and Canadians would suddenly see things Europe's 
way at next week's United Nations conference on a 
biodiversity protocol in Montreal, European Environment ...

16) Australian Financial Review Online Features Jan 20, 2000 
GM food: high-tech messiah to environmental vandal By 
Julie Macken Two years ago, the world was poised for the 
next Great Leap Forward genetically modified food. Rising 
above the white noise of millennium hype, transgenic crops 
seemed poised to deliver on the big-ticket items of the ...

 MILITARY 

17) France Not to Publish Secrets on Nuclear Tests PARIS (Jan. 
19) XINHUA - French Defense Minister Alain Richard said in a
statement Wednesday that France will not publish the  secrets on the
193 nuclear tests which were conducted on  the Polynesian islands in
the South Pacific from 1966 to  1996. The statement published by the
army bulletin "Actu ...

18) The New York Times January 19, 2000, Late Edition - Final 
SECTION: A; Page 1; Column 6; National Desk HEADLINE: 
MISSILE IS UNABLE TO HIT ITS TARGET IN PENTAGON TEST 
BYLINE: ELIZABETH BECKER DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 BODY:
In a serious setback to plans for creating a missile defense
system to protect the United States, a missile fired from ...

19) The Times (London) January 19, 2000, SECTION: Features 
HEADLINE: New fears raised about plutonium BYLINE: Nigel 
Hawkes BODY: LAST year scientists found that traces of 
plutonium left in a cavern created by underground weapon 
tests in Nevada had migrated more than a kilometre through 
the ground. This was at least a hundred times farther than ...

20) Reuters Iraq blames U.S., Britain for environment disaster
IRAQ: January 18, 2000 BAGHDAD - Iraq accused Western 
powers of inflicting a creeping health and environmental 
disaster on the country by blocking medical and 
humanitarian supplies. 
"The environment in Iraq is still in dire need of ...

21) The Globe & Mail Online (Canada) Don't be afraid of 
plutonium We should welcome the disposal of warheads in 
Canada, writes a nuclear safety expert JOHN SUTHERLAND  
Wednesday, January 19, 2000 Last week it was reported that 
a long-anticipated shipment of plutonium from New Mexico 
reached Canada. It was trucked to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. ...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

22) 01/19 Disappointed by Y2K? Disaster Aplenty In Store, THE  ST.
PETERSBURG TIMES Y2K may have proved disappointing, but  an entire
new year of imminent disasters promises to make  up for it-so the
prognosis goes. For Russia, the year 2000  could very well be one of
deadly atomic explosions,  radioactive fallout, nuclear waste
catastrophes, floods and ...

23) KEPCO to bar Britain's BNFL from bidding for contracts 
FUKUI, Japan, Jan. 19 (Kyodo) -- Kansai Electric Power Co. 
(KEPCO) said Wednesday it has decided to bar British 
Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL), a supplier of mixed oxide (MOX) 
fuel, from bidding for contracts due to a scandal over 
falsification of quality control data. BNFL will be ...

24) AP Worldstream January 19, 2000 HEADLINE: Parliament to 
hold first-ever public debate on nuclear policy BYLINE: 
MARK LAVIE DATELINE: JERUSALEM BODY: After half a century 
of secrecy, Israel's parliament is going to publicly debate 
Israel's nuclear policy for the first time, the speaker of 
the house said Wednesday. Although no date has yet been set ...

25) AP Worldstream January 19, 2000 HEADLINE: Germany to press 
nuclear plant closures with power companies BYLINE: PAUL 
GEITNER DATELINE: BERLIN BODY: With the clock ticking for 
reaching a deal on closing Germany's nuclear power plants, 
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Cabinet drafted a 
proposed timeline Wednesday to present to industry leaders ...

(GREENPEACE)
26) South China Morning Post January 19, 2000 SECTION: News; 
Pg. 1 HEADLINE: Anger over plan for third nuclear plant 
BYLINE: JENNIFER EHRLICH and Agencies BODY: Environmental 
groups expressed anger last night over mainland plans to 
build a third nuclear power plant in Guangdong. The 
Guangdong Nuclear Power Group has submitted a proposal for ...

 OCEANS 

27) The Gazette (Montreal) January 19, 2000, FINAL SECTION: 
News; A10 HEADLINE: Cod quotas may be slashed again 
DATELINE: ST. JOHN'S BODY: Newfoundland's cod fishery, once 
thought to be on the rebound after seven years of 
rebuilding, was dealt a major setback yesterday. The 
Fisheries Resource Conservation Council, which advises ...

(GREENPEACE)
28) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: NZ's Clark accuses Japan of 
'cheque-book diplomacy' in whale hunt BYLINE: Michael Field 
DATELINE: AUCKLAND, Jan 19 BODY: Prime Minister Helen Clark 
Wednesday launched a strong diplomatic effort against 
Japanese whaling practices, accusing the country of 
deplorable behaviour and cheque-book diplomacy. Elected to ...

(GREENPEACE)
29) The Press Online (New Zealand) January 20, 2000 Clark 
supports Greenpeace Japan whaling 'deplorable' WELLINGTON 
-- Prime Minister Helen Clark is backing a Greenpeace 
petition for a global whale sanctuary, accusing Japan of 
"deplorable" behaviour in its approach to whaling. 
Ms Clark, who attended the petition launch in Auckland ...

 OZONE 

30) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Salt marshes, bogs are 
major destroyers of ozone layer DATELINE: PARIS, Jan 19 
BODY: Coastal marshes, peat bogs and other fertile areas 
are major factors in the destruction of the ozone layer, 
the British scientific weekly Nature reports. These areas 
spew out masses of chlorine -holding gas, which then react ...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

31) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Southeast Asia needs 
integrated plan to deal with water problems: ADB DATELINE: 
MANILA, Jan 19 BODY: Southeast Asian countries need to work 
together to develop a water management plan to cope with 
increased world demand in coming decades, experts said here 
Wednesday. The world will need 600 billion dollars by 2010 ...

 TOXICS 

(GREENPEACE)
32) FEATURE-Demand for healthier food grows in HK By Tan Ee Lyn
HONG KONG, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Hemmed in all round by 
surging skyscrapers, a tiny organic garden sits defiantly 
in one of the most densely populated and most polluted 
places in Hong Kong. In Causeway Bay, a district often 
choked by auto exhaust fumes, restaurant owner Helen Wong ...

33) California Plans Tougher Restrictions on Pesticide Use By 
Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. 
Jan. 19--After years of lawsuits and protests, methyl 
bromide -- California's most controversial pesticide since 
DDT was banned in 1972 --will face a host of new 
restrictions and tough rules. ...

34) The San Francisco Chronicle JANUARY 19, 2000, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1 HEADLINE: Gene Defects for Neighbors 
of Toxic Site; Study finds aberrations in chromosomes among 
Daly City project residents BYLINE: Angelica Pence, 
Chronicle Staff Writer DATELINE: DALY CITY BODY: Most 
residents tested at a San Mateo County housing project ...

35) The Globe & Mail Online MERCURY RISING Mercury isn't just 
a worry in the lakes any more. Precipitation is 
distributing the horribly toxic nerve poison to every 
ecosystem in the world MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT Environment 
Reporter Thursday, January 13, 2000 Gary Glass thinks 
today's songwriters and poets should think twice before ...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The above newsclips are to indicate the environment news of the day.
Whole news articles are copyright protected, so unfortunately Greenpeace
cannot distribute them publicly.