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Global News Headlines 01/20



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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Thursday, January 20, 2000
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 ATMOSPHERE 

(GREENPEACE)
1) France unveils plan to fight global warming PARIS, Jan 19 
(Reuters) - France unveiled a programme to fight global 
warming on Wednesday but environmentalists said they were 
worried the measures would not be implemented. The 
government adopted proposals aiming to cut greenhouse gas 
emissions by 10 percent by 2010 to meet France's ...

2) 01/20 Researchers Warn on La Nina By MATTHEW FORDAHL LOS  ANGELES
(AP) -- The Pacific Ocean may be undergoing a  dramatic temperature
change that could make the unusual  weather patterns of the last 18
months the norm for the  next 30 years, researchers say. Winters that
are dry and  warm in the Southwest, unusually frigid in the East and ...

3) NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT January 20, 2000 HEADLINE: 
Drillings in Norway show results of global warming BODY: 
Drillings on Spitzbergen, Norway have shown that the 
temperature 100m below the surface has increased between 
one and two degrees over the last 100 years. The 
temperature change, which has also been measured in ...

 ENERGY 

4) Belgium advised to use taxes for ``greener'' economy 
BRUSSELS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Belgium should use taxation to 
penalise pollution and reward "greener" practices in 
sectors ranging from transport to health to agriculture, a 
government committee said in a report published on Thursday.
In a draft paper on environmentally sound policy-making ...

5) Norway govt dealt blow by opposition on gas power By Terje 
Solsvik and Jeff Coelho OSLO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Norway's 
centrist government suffered a blow on Wednesday when 
opposition Labour Party parliamentarians voted to relax 
government-backed restrictions on building gas-based power 
plants. Labour, the biggest party with 65 seats of the ...

6) Reuters Shell says banned use of Erika tanker from May '98
UK: January 20, 2000 LONDON - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell 
said yesterday that for the last two years it has refused 
to charter the tanker which broke up off France in December.
"In May 1998 we inspected the Erika and downgraded it on 
our system from being able to carry our cargoes," a Shell ...

7) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: French president calls for 
tougher laws against potential polluters DATELINE: LE 
CROISIC, France, Jan 20 BODY: French President Jacques 
Chirac called Thursday for tougher laws on maritime 
transport as he toured towns along France's western coast 
that were badly polluted this month by oil from a sunken ...

 FORESTS 

8) AP Worldstream January 20, 2000 HEADLINE: WWF report card 
reflects neglect for Europe's forests BYLINE: CONSTANT BRAND
DATELINE: BRUSSELS, Belgium BODY: The World Wildlife Fund 
warned Thurdsay European nations were badly neglecting 
their forests and said damage to French woods during the 
Christmas storms was partly due to bad planting procedures. ...

9) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Cambodian government probe 
uncovers official links to illegal logging DATELINE: PHNOM 
PENH, Jan 20 BODY: A Cambodian government internal probe 
into illegal logging in the northeast of the country has 
uncovered high-level official involvement in the business, 
according to documents released Thursday. The investigation ...

10) The Christian Science Monitor January 20, 2000, SECTION: 
USA; Pg. 3 HEADLINE: Nature's next crisis: islandization 
BYLINE: Todd Wilkinson, Special to The Christian Science 
Monitor DATELINE: BOZEMAN, MONT. HIGHLIGHT: With natural 
habitat becoming fragmented, activists call for networks 
BODY: A century ago, as the nation looked back across an ...

11) The Vancouver Sun January 20, 2000, FINAL SECTION: 
Business; F1 / Front HEADLINE: Forest firms vow to get free 
trade in lumber BYLINE: Gordon Hamilton, Sun Forestry 
Reporter BODY: Canadian lumber producers said Wednesday 
they will fight the Americans to restore free trade in 
lumber exports before accepting a continuation of the ...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

12) US opposes prior notice for GM crop shipments WASHINGTON, 
Jan 19 (Reuters) - The United States strongly opposes any 
attempt to require exporters to provide advance notice of 
shipments of genetically modified crops, a U.S. official 
said on Wednesday. David Sandalow, assistant secretary of 
state for oceans, environment and science, told reporters ...

13) WSJ(1/20): US Appeals Crt Decides In Favor Of Plant Patents
By Scott Kilman Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal 
In a victory for crop-biotechnology companies, the U.S. 
Court of Appeals for the federal circuit upheld the 
patentability of plants. The ruling validates a 1985 U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Office decision to begin issuing ...

(GREENPEACE)
14) Montreal Gazette January 20, 2000 EDITION Final News PAGE 
A1 / FRONT Trade, technology and tomatoes: Nations face off 
in Montreal on issues including genetically modified foods 
MARK ABLEY The negotiators flew to Spain and Egypt. Later 
they flew to Denmark and Slovakia. Last year they flew to 
Colombia and Austria. But for all their debates over the ...

15) BBC Online Sci/Tech 20 January, 2000, Ethicists query 
Dolly patents The first patents for cloning have been 
issued to the scientists who created Dolly the sheep. The 
patents cover the technology known as nuclear transfer and 
any animals that are produced using the methodology. 
Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, ...

16) The New York Times January 20, 2000, Late Edition - Final 
SECTION: C; Page 1; Column 2; Business/Financial Desk 
HEADLINE: Rise, and Fall, of 'Life Sciences'; Drugmakers 
Scramble to Unload Agricultural Units BYLINE: DAVID J. 
MORROW BODY: When the announcement came last month that 
Novartis would sell its agricultural division, few analysts ...

(GREENPEACE)
17) 01/20 Green groups hope to influence biosafety talks By  Robert
Melnbardis MONTREAL (Reuters) - Groups opposed to  the growing use of
genetically modified organisms in crops  and food products hope their
message will be heard at U.N.  talks in Montreal next week, even
though they will not be  taking part. Environmental organizations and
public ...

18) 01/20 Biosafety pact must complement WTO, US says By Doug  Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposed agreement to  protect biological
diversity and regulate trade in  genetically modified organisms must
be consistent with  World Trade Organization rules, Agriculture
Secretary Dan  Glickman said Thursday. "We want to make sure that
whatever ...

19) 01/20 U.S. Heading For Stalemate On Biosafety Pact By  David Evans
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The European Union and  the United States
appear to be heading for stalemate at key  talks next week on a deal
to protect biological diversity  and regulate trade in genetically
modified crops. Senior  U.S. agriculture officials, addressing a U.S. ...

 MILITARY 

20) The Guardian (London) January 20, 2000 SECTION: Guardian 
Foreign Pages; Pg. 17 HEADLINE: Pentagon red-faced over 
failure of Son of Star Wars BYLINE: Richard Norton-Taylor 
and Michael Ellison in New York BODY: Richard Norton-Taylor 
and Michael Ellison in New York The failure this week of a 
US prototype missile interceptor to hit a mock warhead high ...

21) The San Francisco Chronicle JANUARY 20, 2000, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A24; EDITORIALS HEADLINE: An 
Anti-Missile Program That Appears Off Course BODY: A BIG 
TEST and a big failure. Time and credibility may be running 
out on the anti-missile missile after a high-altitude miss 
over the Pacific. It's the ultimate defense weapon of the ...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

22) TRIAL BEGINS INTO NUCLEAR PLANT FIRE CASE Tarragona, 
Spain, Jan 19, 2000 (EFE via COMTEX) -- The case 
surrounding a fire that 10 years ago caused the worst 
nuclear accident in Spanish history went to trial Wednesday 
with five of the power plant's former executives as 
defendants. On Oct. 19, 1989, a fire broke out at the ...

23) BBC Summary of World Broadcasts January 21, 2000, Friday 
HEADLINE: Health of Chernobyl children worsening SOURCE: 
BODY: [1] Excerpt from report by Belarusian news agency 
Belapan Minsk, 14th January: Since the accident at the 
Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the number of absolutely 
healthy children living on contaminated Belarusian ...

24) Thai energy activists oppose Japanese 'study tour' BYLINE: 
Varunee Torsricharoen DATELINE: BANGKOK, Jan. 20 Kyodo BODY:
Thai sustainable energy activists have slammed a plan by the
mayor of an obscure Japanese town to use Thai hill tribe 
villages as a way to promote construction of a nuclear power
plant in Japan. The mayor of Kumihama in Kyoto Prefecture, ...

 OCEANS 

(GREENPEACE)
25) Mexico fines Sol Melia for eco damage - Greenpeace MEXICO 
CITY, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Environmental group Greenpeace on 
Wednesday said sanctions imposed by Mexico on Spanish hotel 
chain Sol Melia (SOL.MC), planning to build a resort hotel 
on a beach where sea turtles lay their eggs, don't go far 
enough to discourage the project or protect turtles. ...

26) 01/19 Feds Declare Fishery Failure By JEFF BARNARD GRANTS  PASS, Ore.
(AP) -- The federal government on Wednesday  declared a fishery
disaster for West Coast groundfish,  opening the way for future
relief to fishermen whose  catches have been severely limited. "This
determination is  the first step in the process of securing funds
from ...

27) 01/20 Oil Spill Imperils Famed Brazil Bay By PETER MUELLO  RIO DE
JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- A huge oil spill spreading  across Rio's
postcard-famous Guanabara Bay has reached  ecologically vital
mangrove swamps and is threatening  animal life, media reports said
Thursday. The Globo TV  network said the oil that gushed from a
broken refinery ...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

28) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Dhaka meet ends with calls 
for eradication of tiger trade DATELINE: DHAKA, Jan 20 BODY:
Environmentalists ended a three-day conference here 
Thursday calling for an end to the trade in tigers and their
body parts together with greater protection of the 
endangered great cat. "All countries would be asked to ...

29) 01/20 National Organic Standards Ready By MARTHA MENDOZA  PACIFIC
GROVE, Calif. (AP) -- Consumers who are gobbling up  organic products
at an unprecedented rate should have a  better idea of what they're
eating when the nation's first  organic labeling rules roll out this
year, a federal  agriculture official told farmers Thursday. "This
will not ...

 TOXICS 

(GREENPEACE)
30) Greenpeace to examine French oil spill AMSTERDAM, Jan 20 
(Reuters) - Greenpeace said on Thursday it planned to 
investigate the oil spilled by a tanker onto the French 
coast after birds caught up in the slick allegedly 
developed tumours and other unusual symptoms. Maltese 
tanker Erika, chartered by TotalFin broke in two on ...

31) EPA says 1999 record year for penalizing polluters 
WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency on Wednesday said fiscal year 1999 was a 
record year for penalizing polluters. Agency Administrator 
Carol Browner announced that $166.7 million in civil 
penalties were assessed, and another $3.6 billion in ...

(GREENPEACE)
32) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Western nations 
transferring "highly polluting" technologies: Vajpayee 
DATELINE: NEW DELHI, Jan 20 BODY: India's Prime Minister 
Atal Behari Vajpayee Thursday accused western nations of 
transferring "highly polluting" technologies to developing 
nations, the Press Trust of India said. "Industrialised ...

33) THE JAKARTA POST January 20, 2000 SECTION: News HEADLINE: 
Indorayon's fate BODY: State Minister of Environment Sonny 
Keraf's recommendation to the Cabinet that PT Inti 
Indorayon's pulp and rayon plants in Porsea near Lake Toba 
in North Sumatra be closed down or relocated has probably 
made him very popular with environmental organizations and ...

(GREENPEACE)
34) 01/20 'Rainbow Warrior' Arrives, NATION THE Rainbow  Warrior ,
celebrated as the most renowned campaign ship of  the environmental
group Greenpeace, arrived in Thailand  this week as part of its
"Toxic-Free Asia" campaign. The  ship, well known for its role in
Greenpeace campaigns on  environmental issues including nuclear
testing, genetic ...

 X-OTHER-X 

35) Newsweek January 24, 2000, U.S. Edition SECTION: 
INTERNATIONAL; Pg. 58 HEADLINE: Can Bono Save the Third 
World? BYLINE: John Leland; With Michael Hirsh and Weston 
Kosova HIGHLIGHT: Thanks to a series of surreal encounters 
between a rock-and- roller and some people in very high 
places, debt relief is now a hot issue. BODY: As the singer ...

36) 01/20 Survey: US Bullies Gov'ts for Firms By GEORGE GEDDA  WASHINGTON
(AP) -- The U.S. government often exploits its  superpower status to
cajole foreign governments into  granting lucrative business
contracts to American  corporations, a survey released Thursday said.
The survey  was made public by Transparency International, a global ...

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