------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
China objects to Japanese politician's nuclear remarks
Australia approves new nuclear research reactor
End of the cover-up of DU in Sardinia - Italy
Bulgaria to restart building new nuclear plant
Lithuania N-plant stops reactor for repairs
Leak forces Japan reactor shutdown, no risk seen
Leak at nuclear plant mars Japan's safety report
Russian environmentalists
NPT signatories meet for the first time since Sept. 11
U.N. Ratifies Terror Finance Treaty
Russia Rebukes U.S. on Disarmament
Mountain of Controversy Created by Proposed Waste Site
Foes of Nuclear Dump Gear Up Campaign
Nevada Triggers Nuclear Waste Battle in Congress
Nevada Fights Nuke Waste Storage
Ohio Nuke Plant Review Moves Ahead
Nevada Triggers Nuclear Waste Battle in Congress

MILITARY
U.S. - Backed Afghan Patrol Attacked
Bin Laden absent on airwaves
Pentagon Talks Taiwan Military Aid
Belgrade Set to Pass War Crime Law to Unfreeze Aid
District not ready for germ attack
Bruce Lazier, P.E. Senior Oil Analyst Joins Uranium Power
No end in sight to Colombia's increasingly brutal war
U.N.: Iraq Oil Suspension Hurts Aid
Refugee Camps Are Now Battlegrounds
French Cameraman Shot in W. Bank
Israeli troops leave two cities
Veterans wage air war against land mines
Putin Warns Europe to Treat Russia as an Equal
Pentagon Talks Taiwan Military Aid
China slams U.S. vow to defend Taiwan
U.S. plans meetings with Taiwan on submarine design
U.S. Vows to Veto New UN Plea for Israeli Pullout
Pentagon to Review Troops, Needs

POLICE / PRISONERS
FBI Urged to Investigate Agents
Report: '01 World Executions Doubled
Amnesty: Executions Doubled in 2001, Led by China
Al - Qaida Suspect Charged of War

ENERGY AND OTHER
Renewables the Core of "Intelligent Energy for Europe"
Global wind power market seen up 16 pct/yr to 2006
Dwindling water supplies the world's biggest challenge
GE files 'good faith offer' with EPA for plan to clean up Hudson River
Public Opposes Human Cloning
Chocolate Laced Cattle Feed Can Kill Birds
Palestinians' Plight in Battered Refugee Camp Brings Warning
Zemin Faces Pressure Over Human Rights
U.S. Team to Start Slavery Probe in Sudan
IMF Plays Carrot and Stick with Argentina

ACTIVISTS
10,000 march in New York to oppose war
U.S. Campuses See Mideast Protests
Turkish protesters decry Israeli ties
2002 NPT PrepCom Statements Available Online
ENVIROVIDEO TV PROGRAMS WITH HARVEY WASSERMAN
KILL SENATE BILL 517: A WINDFALL FOR NUCLEAR POWER



-------- NUCLEAR

-------- asia

China objects to Japanese politician's nuclear remarks

Tue Apr 9, 2002,
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020409/wl_asia_nm/asia_99109_1

BEIJING - China has condemned a speech by Japan's opposition Liberal Party leader, Ichiro Ozawa, that claimed Japan could easily produce nuclear weapons and surpass China's military might, state media said on Tuesday.

Ozawa's remarks, made at a seminar on Saturday, were irresponsible and "contradicted hopes for peace and long-term friendship between the two countries and peoples", the People's Daily quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue as saying.

"Ozawa's words were provocative, representing an outdated Cold War mentality just as the two countries were celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations," she said.

His remarks "ran opposite to the wishes of both Chinese and Japanese peoples", she added.

Ozawa's speech came during a visit to Japan by China's parliament chief Li Peng and only days before Japanese Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi visits China.

Ozawa said his statements were meant to encourage stronger ties between China and Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack.

Koizumi will visit China for three days from April 11 to attend an economic conference on Hainan island, although he is also expected to meet Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.

Li's visit is one of several high-level exchanges between China and Japan to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties in September 1972.

Ties have been strained in recent times by Koizumi's visit last year to a shrine honouring Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals, and Japan's approval of a history textbook that China and other Asian countries say downplays Japan's wartime aggression.

-------- australia

Australia approves new nuclear research reactor

REUTERS AUSTRALIA:
April 8, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15362/newsDate/8-Apr-2002/story.htm

CANBERRA - Australia has given Argentine state firm INVAP SE the green light to build a controversial research-only nuclear reactor to replace the country's ageing Sydney reactor, the government said last week.

Environmentalists have vowed to block the A$300 million (US$159 million) project, saying Australia's 44-year-old Lucas Heights reactor should not be replaced, even by a reactor which only produces radioisotopes for medical use.

Australia has no other nuclear reactors besides the Lucas Heights research facility. Green groups and residents of the south Sydney suburb where it is located say replacing the ageing reactor is the last thing Australia should be doing given post-September 11 security concerns.

But the nation's nuclear watchdog, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), said the new reactor, to be completed by 2005, was designed to withstand even a direct aircraft attack.

"I'm satisfied that even in the unlikely event that such an attack were attempted, that the probability of the attack being successful is now very small indeed," ARPANSA said in a statement.

Science Minister Peter McGauran dismissed environmental concerns about the project, saying the need for a reliable source of isotopes - used in more than 440,000 nuclear medicine procedures in Australia last year - was paramount.

"The government had a clear choice between saving lives and providing for more ground-breaking scientific and industrial research, or succumbing to minority groups and their protest actions," McGauran said in a statement.

Radioisotopes are artificially-produced chemical elements used in physical and biological research or medical therapy.

Green groups and Sydney residents have long argued there is no safe way to dispose of nuclear waste, even in its reprocessed form, and that Lucas Heights has become the de facto nuclear waste dump of Australia.

The government has not yet decided where it will dispose of the medium and low-level nuclear waste from the reactor, but said a decision would be made before the reactor comes on line in 2005.

Last August, Australia and Argentina signed a nuclear energy treaty paving the way for Australian nuclear waste to be shipped and processed in the South American country.

The reprocessed waste would eventually be returned to Australia for permanent storage.

In the past Australia has sent spent fuel to France for reprocessing by state-owned nuclear reprocessing company Cogema, but activists including Greenpeace have protested against it, saying shipping spent fuel is dangerous.

McGauran also shrugged off questions about the viability of INVAP after a fellow minister told the Senate last month the Argentine technology firm had received a A$10.5 million ($5.6 million) bailout from the Buenos Aires government.

INVAP is owned by Rio Negro province and its board is controlled by Argentina's National Atomic Energy Commission. Its main work is related to space exploration and nuclear construction and research in places like Argentina, Peru, Algeria, Cuba and Egypt.


-------- depleted uranium

End of the cover-up of DU in Sardinia - Italy

From: "vlario" <vlario@yahoo.it>
Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 11:14:59 -0000

Dear friends, yesterday on the italian first TV-channel (RAI-1) there was at 20:30 a program from one of the most important italian journalist Enzo Biagi. The name of the program was "Il fatto". It was 25 minutes long and all about the possible use of DU in the firing-range in Sardinia.

Marco Saba Tel. 340 5006545

-------- europe

Bulgaria to restart building new nuclear plant

REUTERS BULGARIA:
April 9, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15377/story.htm

SOFIA - Bulgaria said yesterday it planned to restart building a new nuclear power plant in Belene to compensate for the early closure of old reactors at its existing plant in Kozloduy.

Bulgaria is the main power exporter in the Balkans and seeks to keep its leading position after a planned earlier closure of four of the Soviet-design Kozloduy's six 3,760-megawatt reactors, which produces 45 percent of the country's power.

The decommissioning of the old reactors is a key pledge in Bulgaria's accession talks with the European Union, which it is striving to join.

The completion of the halted construction in Belene is part of a new energy strategy, which the government is expected to approve on Thursday, an Energy Ministry spokesman told Reuters.

Investment needed to rebuild the plant in Belene, 250 km (160 miles) north of Sofia, might reach up to $2 billion, depending on the capacity and type of reactors that would be bought, the spokesman said.

He said investors from Russia, Canada, Europe and the United States had shown interest in funding the new plant in Belene but declined to give more details.

Bulgaria bowed to the EU pressure in 2000 and agreed to shut down Kozloduy's two oldest 440-megawatt reactors, number one and two, before 2003.

It is still not clear when it would close the other two 440 MW reactors, numbers three and four.

According to a 1999 deal with the European Commission, Bulgaria should close them in 2008 and 2010, respectively, but in the last two annual reports on Bulgaria the commission insisted it should be in 2006 at the latest.

Most officials in Sofia say the two reactors have been modernised to be safe and Bulgaria, which covered 50 percent of the regions power deficit last year, cannot afford to close them so early.

A final decision over the closure of Kozloduy's reactors number three and four will be taken after negotiations with the European Commission this year.

Over the weekend Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, whose cabinet took over last July, said Bulgaria would meet its obligations to the EU, while maintaining its national interest by completing the construction of the Belene plant.

The building of the 1,000-megawatt Soviet-designed Belene plant started in the 1980s and 40 percent of the construction works worth $1 billion has been completed. Forty percent of the main equipment, including a reactor, have been supplied to Belene.

But works were halted in 1990 due to a lack of cash and environmental protests.

----

Lithuania N-plant stops reactor for repairs

REUTERS LITHUANIA:
April 9, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15379/story.htm

VILNIUS - Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear power plant said yesterday that the second of the plant's two reactors had been shut down for annual maintenance until early June.

Plant spokeswoman Ina Didzulyte told Reuters that the reactor was due to come back on line on June 5. Reactor one was then scheduled to close for maintenance from mid-June until late September.

"We do these annual repairs every summer, when electricity needs are lower," Didzulyte said.

She said that yesterday morning reactor one - with two turbines - was operating at 1,010 megawatts (MW) capacity. Each of the plant's units has an installed capacity of 1,300 MW.

Ignalina produces 70 percent of Lithuania's electrical power.

The European Union has said the Baltic state must commit to a date for closing the Soviet-built plant, whose Chernobyl-styled reactors it regards as unsafe, if it wants to end EU accession talks this year to pave the way for joining the bloc in 2004.

Lithuania has pledged to close Ignalina's first unit by 2005, but has yet to accept an EU recommendation on closing unit two by 2009.

-------- japan

Leak forces Japan reactor shutdown, no risk seen

Tue Apr 9,2002
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020409/wl_india_nm/india_68430_1

TOKYO - An advanced Japanese thermal reactor was shut down on Tuesday morning when a small leakage of steam containing radiation was detected, just a day after operations had resumed following an 11-month break.

The incident at the Fugen reactor, which officials at the state-run Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) said posed no health risks, came on the same day the government reported that its nuclear safety record had improved.

"Since the steam did not leak outside the facility, and the amount of radiation involved was so small, there is no health danger," said a spokesman for JNC, which operates the reactor.

He added that the cause of the leak was being investigated and it was too early to say when the reactor might be restarted.

The 165,000-kilowatt Fugen, located in western Japan, restarted on Monday after being shut down last May when a tritium leak was detected between the outside of the reactor container and the concrete wall surrounding the facility.

Fugen, named after a Buddhist saint, is set to be dismantled at the end of March next year, and the announcement that it would be restarted had prompted outrage among activists.

In its White Paper on Nuclear Safety issued on Tuesday, Japan, which operates 52 commercial nuclear reactors to supply roughly a third of its power, said its nuclear safety record had improved in 2001.

Its worst nuclear accident took place in September 1999 at a uranium-processing plant in Tokaimura, some 140 km (90 miles) northeast of Tokyo, when workers put nearly eight times the normal amount of uranium into a container.

That caused a chain reaction that took 20 hours to bring under control. Two workers died from massive radiation exposure, while hundreds of residents near the plant were exposed to lesser amounts of radiation.

----

Leak at nuclear plant mars Japan's safety report

Tue Apr 9, 2002
By Miho Yoshikawa
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020409/wl_asia_nm/asia_99121_1

TOKYO - Japan's nuclear safety record improved last year, a government report said on Tuesday, but the news was marred by the shutdown the same day of an advanced thermal reactor due to a leakage of steam containing radiation.

The report, which hardly mentions the September 11 attacks that heightened worldwide anxiety about the vulnerability of nuclear sites, said accidents at Japan's nuclear plants fell to 14 in 2001 from 30 the previous year.

The White Paper on Nuclear Safety also made no reference to power industry deregulation and what impact it might have on safety in the nuclear industry that some experts see as a crucial issue.

The shutdown in the morning of the Fugen 165,000-kilowatt reactor in western Japan came just a day after operations had resumed following an 11-month break.

The reactor was shut down last May when a tritium leak was detected between the outside of the reactor container and the concrete wall surrounding the facility.

A spokesman for the reactor's operator, state-run Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, said the latest incident posed no health risk because the steam had not leaked outside the plant.

It was unclear when Fugen would restart and the cause of the incident was under investigation, he said.

Tuesday's white paper focuses on the safe use of plutonium, which Japan is trying to use at some power plants in the form of MOX fuel, a blend of uranium and plutonium recycled from spent nuclear fuel.

Japan has fallen behind in its schedule to begin using the fuel due to public opposition.

Shinichi Kawarada, General Affairs Director of the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC), said little space was given to the September 11 attacks because the report concentrated on certain topics each year, and chose plutonium for 2001.

However, the government had stepped up safety measures after the attacks, including mobilising more police guards at nuclear power plants and providing more coast guard surveillance in waters near nuclear facilities, he said.

The NSC, part of the Cabinet Office, has broad powers to plan and make decisions on nuclear safety.

IAEA TAKES ACTION

The NSC's approach to the September 11 attacks contrasts to the action taken by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

The director-general of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in November that an act of terrorism was far more likely than previously thought after September 11 and that concern was no longer limited to secret nuclear weapons programmes.

Acting on its concerns, the IAEA's governing board last month approved a plan of action aimed at upgrading worldwide protection against attacks on nuclear facilities.

Energy-starved Japan operates 52 commercial nuclear reactors, which supply roughly a third of its power.

Less than 30 percent of Japan's power market to end-users is open to competition, but a decision is due this year on the next stage of deregulation.

Many experts have raised doubts about whether nuclear energy can remain economically competitive given the high cost of building plants and the problem of waste disposal.

Takamitsu Sawa, Director at Kyoto University's Institute of Economic Research, said nuclear energy, which requires massive spending, and industry deregulation, which calls for cost-cutting, were moves that run counter to each other.

"You cannot avoid spending money if you want to secure the safe operation and management of (nuclear facilities)," he said.

"There is a need to discuss the government's role in maintaining and funding safety. That is missing now," he said.

URGENT ISSUE

The NSC's Kawarada said this was an urgent issue that the government needed to address.

"There is no reference (to the issue) in our review of the past year because we have not yet started a serious study ... although we believe it is an important topic," Kawarada said.

Sawa said corporate haste in cutting costs was partly to blame for causing Japan's worst nuclear accident, at a uranium processing plant in September 1999.

Hundreds of residents near the plant in Tokaimura, 140 km (90 miles) northeast of Tokyo, as well as plant and rescue workers, were exposed to radiation when workers put nearly eight times the normal amount of uranium into a container, causing a chain reaction that took 20 hours to bring under control.

Two workers died from massive radiation exposure.

Revelations of systematic violations of safety guidelines by plant operator JCO Co Ltd, including the absence of safety training and illegal operations to cut costs, shocked the public and deepened distrust of the nuclear industry.

The Japanese government is pressing for continued operation of nuclear power plants because it believes Japan would not be able to meet targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions if the use of nuclear power were curtailed.

At a United Nations climate conference in 1997, Japan pledged to cut emissions of six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), by six percent by 2008-2012 from 1990 levels.

In Japan, about 90 percent of CO2 emissions derive from energy consumption.

-------- russia

Russian environmentalists vow to take fight against nuclear waste reprocessing to court

Tue Apr 9,
By JUDITH INGRAM,
Associated Press Writer
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020409/ap_wo_en_ge/russia_nuclear_waste_3

MOSCOW - Fighting to reverse the government's decision to accept spent nuclear waste for reprocessing, Russian environmentalists said Tuesday that they would take their demand for a referendum on the issue to court.

Last summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a plan to allow the import of spent nuclear fuel for storage and reprocessing. Proponents of the plan have argued Russia could earn dlrs 20 billion over the next decade and use part of the money to clean up existing nuclear pollution. But environmentalists fear the program would turn the country into a nuclear dump.

Environmental groups said they had collected 2.5 million signatures in support of a nationwide referendum on the issue, but the Central Election Commission rejected the initiative, saying some of the signatures had been falsified.

The Greenpeace environmental organization has brought a case on the Russian government's refusal to hold a referendum to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, and expects a decision in about a year, said Ivan Blokov, a Greenpeace activist in Moscow.

Meanwhile, an election commission in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region, where the waste reprocessing facility is located, has rejected a local attempt to initiate a referendum on the plan. Alexei Yablokov, president of the Center for Ecological Policy, told a news conference Tuesday that environmentalists would also file suit over that decision.

Yablokov said the government had rushed to occupy a niche in the market for reprocessed plutonium and uranium, but that the prices were far lower than reprocessing advocates had predicted.

Instead of earning dlrs 20 billion, he said, "It will maybe be dlrs 2 billion - and with that we cannot do anything."

"There is no market that has to be won," he added.

James Werner, a former U.S. Energy Department official who now heads the non-governmental Reprocessing Policy Project, said reprocessing made no sense from an economic, environmental or national security point of view. A glut on the market has prompted some countries to start destroying plutonium, while reprocessing yields a small amount of plutonium and a great volume of highly radioactive waste, he said.

"The economic and environmental reasons are always there, but now there are security concerns, because we're extracting materials that can be used in nuclear weapons," he said.

-------- treaties

NPT signatories meet for the first time since Sept. 11

Tue Apr 9,
By EDITH M. LEDERER,
Associated Press Writer
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020410/ap_wo_en_ge/un_nuclear_treaty_1

UNITED NATIONS - The 187 signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are meeting for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a major issue for the United States and many other countries is the threat of nuclear terrorism.

U.S. Ambassador Norman Wulf warned the meeting that "the spread of nuclear weapons to additional states not only increases the risk of nuclear war among nations, but also increases the risk of nuclear terrorism."

The two-week meeting that began Monday is the first session to prepare for the next NPT review conference in 2005.

Violations of the treaty by Iraq and North Korea during the 1990s and their continued failure to comply "underscore the dangers to the global community" and "the need for constant vigilance," Wulf said during Tuesday's session.

The International Atomic Energy Agency must be allowed to operate unhindered in both countries and the parties to the treaty must persevere in insisting that Iraq and North Korea fully comply with its provisions, he said.

"NPT parties who would violate the treaty must make a choice," Wulf said. "They can either join the vast majority of parties who take their NPT obligations seriously or risk the consequences of being an outlaw nation."

The NPT, which went into force in 1970, represented a bargain between the nuclear "haves" and "have-nots." In return for the non-nuclear states' agreement not to acquire nuclear weapons, the treaty committed nuclear weapons states to take steps toward nuclear disarmament.

Russian envoy Alexander Mostovets told Tuesday's session that there was almost a global consensus on the new threats and challenges to the world.

"The problem of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction together with the problem of international terrorism is among the top items within that scope," he said. "In combination, these two problems - terrorism and proliferation - constitute the greatest and quite real danger."

China's Ambassador Hu Xiaodi said "after Sept. 11, prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terror has become even more important and urgent."

But Russia, China, and seven non-nuclear countries from Africa, Latin America, Europe and the Pacific indicated they were unhappy with the Bush administration's approach to the NPT.

A U.S. nuclear review published in January indicated that following Sept. 11 the United States is keeping all its options open, including the possible development and testing of new nuclear weapons.

Classified sections of the review leaked in mid-March showed "more clearly" that the United States was considering resuming testing and might decide in the future to design more deadly nuclear weapons, said Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the London-based Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy.

To fight terrorism and proliferation, Russia's Mostovets said "it is important to unite efforts to create a global system of counteracting new challenges and threats."

"The proposed new measures should not `compete' with traditional disarmament and non-proliferation aspects of security," he said, in a clear reference to the U.S. proposals.

China's Hu urged the nuclear-weapon states to continue their moratoria on nuclear testing, refrain from developing new nuclear weapons and push for ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty - which the Bush administration opposes.

Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister Mahmoud Mubarak, speaking for the seven non-nuclear nations, also expressed disappointment at the lack of progress in implementing the steps the nuclear signatories had agreed to do.

"Furthermore, we are deeply concerned about emerging approaches to the future role of nuclear weapons as a part of new security strategies," he said.

----

U.N. Ratifies Terror Finance Treaty

By Edith M. Lederer
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22289-2002Apr9?language=printer

UNITED NATIONS -- A new U.N. treaty aimed at halting the flow of cash to terrorists comes into force on Wednesday, with the vast majority of countries ratifying the agreement after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The treaty makes it a crime to provide or collect funds with the intention or knowledge that the money will be used to carry out a terrorist attack. It recognizes that financing is at the heart of terrorist activity and paves the way for close cooperation between among nations, law enforcement agencies, and financial authorities.

As of April 2, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism had been signed by 132 countries and ratified by 26 countries - four more than the minimum of 22 nations required for it to enter into force.

The U.N. General Assembly initiated work on the treaty in 1998, after a proposal by France. It was adopted by the General Assembly on Dec. 9, 1999.

The United Nations said the speed with which it has been ratified illustrates the international community's heightened commitment to combating terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It said 22 of 26 countries ratified after the attacks.

The treaty calls for stepped-up efforts to identify, detect, and freeze or seize funds earmarked for terrorist acts and urges states to use such funds to compensate victims and their families. It calls on financial institutions to report to their government any unusual or suspicious transactions.

Countries that are party to the convention must prosecute offenders or extradite them to nations that suffered from their illegal acts. They must cooperate in investigations and may not, for example, refuse a request for assistance on grounds of banking secrecy. They must also update their laws to comply with the treaty's provisions.

The United Nations has been fighting international terrorism for nearly 40 years. A dozen legal agreements are on the books and the General Assembly is debating two new treaties, a comprehensive convention and a convention against nuclear terrorism.

----

Russia Rebukes U.S. on Disarmament

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Russia-US.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22413-2002Apr9?language=printer

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia rebuked the United States on Tuesday for deciding to hold back some disarmament projects because of doubts over Moscow's commitment to biological and chemical weapons treaties, accusing Washington itself of undercutting disarmament efforts.

``Such actions can have the most negative impact on achieving mutual trust and can be reflected in the two countries' cooperation in liquidating weapons of mass destruction and in the sphere of nonproliferation,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement.

The U.S. government put Russia on notice last week it would not certify Russia's full commitment to carrying out the treaties. Such certification is necessary to disburse new funds for existing U.S.-Russian programs to reduce the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Among the reasons behind the U.S. decision were Russia's refusal to share a bioengineered strain of anthrax it had long promised the United States, refusal to provide access to biological institutes run by the Defense Ministry, and failure to own up to decades of secret work on biological and chemical weapons, The New York Times reported. U.S. officials say such withholding of access and information has dented faith in Russia's commitment to disarmament.

Yakovenko said the U.S. decision was not accompanied by concrete examples, and it caused ``bewilderment'' in Moscow. Russia certainly is observing the terms of the two treaties, he said, and any U.S. concerns could be discussed under existing mechanisms for dialogue.

He added that his government found it ``incomprehensible'' that the United States could cast aspersions on Moscow's fulfillment of the biological weapons treaty after a November summit when the U.S. and Russian presidents pledged to expand cooperation in the area.

``One gets the impression that the American references to Russia's supposed non-fulfillment of its international obligations are being used basically in order to distract attention from the United States' own actions,'' Yakovenko said.

He noted that the U.S. government had refused to support a protocol that would have provided for inspections under the 1972 Biological Weapons Treaty. U.S. negotiators argued that the inspection system wouldn't work and would expose U.S. secrets to its enemies, but its position provoked protest even from close allies, who argued that the inspections would put teeth in a treaty that is difficult to enforce.

Yakovenko also accused Washington of ``disorganizing'' the activity of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Last month, Washington initiated a vote of no-confidence in organization chief Jose Bustani, accusing him of financial mismanagement. The U.S. government has said it will not provide funds to the organization -- for which it provides 22 percent of the budget -- until Bustani goes.

-------- u.s. nuc facilities

-------- nevada

Mountain of Controversy Created by Proposed Waste Site
Nevada Veto Shifts Debate to Congress

By Eric Pianin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A16516-2002Apr8?language=printer

AMARGOSA VALLEY, Nev. -- Here in the Nevada desert, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas and a thousand feet beneath the surface of an ugly mountain ridge, the Bush administration is preparing to bury the nation's least desired waste: 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel that will remain radioactive for at least 100 centuries.

Over the past 20 years, government engineers and scientists have carved a vast underground netherworld of tunnels, vaults and test bores to assess Yucca Mountain's geology, part of a controversial plan to store the byproduct of the nation's nuclear power plants.

By relying on a combination of natural barriers and hardened steel alloy storage casks, President Bush and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham declared recently that the government could safely bury the deadly radioactive refuse for at least 10,000 years without it leaching into underground water or escaping into the environment in harmful doses. During a recent trip into the bowels of this remote mountain, Michael D. Voegele, the government's chief scientist on the project, fervently declared: "There's overwhelming evidence this is a good site."

But the debate over Yucca Mountain is far from settled. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn (R) has invoked a unique provision of federal law to veto Bush's Feb. 16 decision authorizing construction of the nation's first centralized nuclear waste repository. His veto, delivered to Congress yesterday, sets the stage for a bruising, election-year battle this summer when the House and Senate must decide whether to uphold or override his action.

"Yucca Mountain is but the latest in a long series of [Energy Department] boondoggles -- one based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy," Guinn said in his notice of disapproval. "Better, cheaper and safer alternatives exist."

Nevada's political establishment and gambling industry oppose the repository. Yet even with the backing of Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and Majority Whip Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), they face an uphill challenge in trying to scuttle the projected $58 billion project, which is strongly favored by the nuclear energy industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many lawmakers with nuclear power plants in their states.

The repository would receive huge stockpiles of nuclear waste and radioactive material from 131 above-ground nuclear power plants in 39 states. The waste now is primarily stored in "temporary" concrete-encased pools, and the states are eager to ship it to a permanent site.

While the House is expected to approve the Nevada project by a wide margin, the vote will be much closer in the Senate, where controversy over the safety of the proposed underground repository and problems associated with shipping the waste cross-country could influence some votes.

In ordering the government to proceed, Bush and Abraham declared the proposed centralized nuclear waste repository "scientifically sound and suitable." Yet scientists and experts representing Nevada and environmental groups argue that Yucca Mountain's volcanic rock is too porous, the waste containers have not been shown to be dependable over long periods of time, and the environmental effects of storing so much heat-generating nuclear waste for so long are unknown.

Last January, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, created by Congress in 1987 to provide an ongoing independent assessment of the project, declared that "the technical basis for the DOE's repository performance estimates is weak to moderate at this time."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently identified 293 unresolved technical issues, ranging from the extent of faulting and fracturing of the repository rock over time to the speed with which water can seep through heated rock and corrode the storage canisters to the possibility of future volcanic activity.

Critics also say the Energy Department has virtually ignored the risks of transporting deadly waste through 43 states, within one mile of 50 million Americans, providing another target for terrorists. Government officials respond there's more of a threat of terrorism by leaving the nuclear waste scattered at plants throughout the country -- as Nevada officials and environmentalists are proposing.

Abraham said recently there is plenty of time to resolve the remaining scientific and safety issues to satisfy the NRC, which must issue a license before the repository can be built. The DOE is shooting for a 2010 deadline for opening the repository, but it could take much longer.

Abraham said a system of "multiple and redundant safeguards" -- the combination of the site's natural barriers and the engineered canisters -- will protect the underground water system and nearby residents from dangerous levels of radioactive contamination. But Allison Macfarlane, a geologist and co-director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Yucca Mountain monitoring project, said DOE scientists are vastly understating the technical problems.

"This isn't to say Yucca Mountain is not the place for the waste," she said. "I'd say they just don't know yet."

The project's tortuous history dates back to the 1950s, when the federal government promised to assume responsibility for disposing of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and defense activities.

Nine other sites were considered. But after widespread opposition from those states, Congress in 1987 ordered the Energy Department to consider only Yucca Mountain, adjacent to the Nevada Test Site.

The rugged 5,000-foot high ridge -- created more than 12 million years ago by volcanic eruptions -- consists of alternating layers of tightly compacted, granite-like rock and more spongy, tan rock resembling sandstone.

Using 720-ton tunnel-boring equipment that resembles a train fitted with a huge circular cutting head, engineers penetrated the mountain to create miles of test tunnels in order to examine faults and determine how quickly small amounts of rainfall can travel through cracks and how intense heat given off by the stored nuclear material -- as high as 390 degrees Farenheit -- would affect the rock's ability to serve as a shield.

In a report to the president in February, the Energy Department concluded that a Yucca Mountain repository would provide the location, natural barriers and design elements "most likely to protect the health and safety of the public," including the 3,500 people and dairy farmers who live nearby.

The study said that workers and residents would at worst be exposed to minor levels of radiation -- no more than 15 millirems a year -- and that radioactive contaminants in groundwater would be no higher than four millirems per year, well within Environmental Protection Agency standards. By comparison, Americans on average are exposed to 360 millirems a year through contact with equipment and their natural surroundings.

The Energy Department said there was "virtually no realistic foundation" to concerns that rainwater could seep through the mountain, penetrate titanium drip shields and the waste containers, and then carry radioactive material into the groundwater. Yucca Mountain receives less than eight inches of rain in an average year, the study said, and most of that runs off the mountain or evaporates. Less than four-tenths of an inch per year would ever reach the repository.

But Nevada state officials charge that the administration is providing a distorted picture and that the mountain would provide far less protection from radioactive leaks than DOE contends. In ordering a study of Yucca Mountain, Congress specified that the decision should be based largely on geologic characteristics.

In 1995, a government geologist discovered traces of Chlorine 36, a byproduct of 1950s-era atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, in small amounts of rain water that had seeped down through cracks in Yucca Mountain to the level where nuclear waste would be kept, 800 feet below the surface. The finding's implications were staggering. If rain water could reach the repository in half a century, then it was possible for radioactive material to reach the groundwater used by a nearby dairy farming community in as little as a few hundred years, according to Nevada officials.

"They suddenly realized they didn't have waste isolation based on the geology itself," said Steve Frishman, Gov. Guinn's technical policy coordinator. Voegele concedes that the Chlorine 36 finding "shook us up to the extent that it heightened our awareness of the importance of engineered barriers working with geologic barriers."

There is also doubt about the long-term effectiveness of the waste canisters in resisting corrosion, in part because DOE has done only about four years of laboratory experiments. Officials agree more testing is needed and said they are considering a design change that would greatly reduce the canisters' exposure to heat and moisture.

"Nevada has never said we don't want it at any cost," Guinn said. "We're saying we want sound science."

--------

Foes of Nuclear Dump Gear Up Campaign

New York Times
April 9, 2002
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/09/politics/09YUCC.html

WASHINGTON, April 8 - When a train carrying thousands of gallons of propane gas derailed near here on Sunday, it was not just a local disaster story.

Some of the top lobbyists in Washington immediately went to work, picking up their telephones and strategizing about how the incident could be used to galvanize support for their latest cause: stopping President Bush's recommendation that the nation's nuclear plants send deadly waste to Yucca Mountain, Nev.

The lobbyists hope the wreck will help them persuade Virginia's two Republican senators, John W. Warner and George F. Allen, that transporting hazardous materials by rail and road is dangerous.

As Congress returns from recess this week, the Senate is the focus of an intensifying lobbying campaign over whether the thousands of tons of high-level radioactive waste stored at more than 130 nuclear plants and military sites should be sent to Nevada.

Most of Nevada has been battling the idea for 20 years. In 1982 in a highly unusual nod to a state, Congress gave Nevada the power to veto any presidential decision about Yucca. Today, Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, filed his veto.

His action started the clock for 90 legislative days during which Congress can sustain the veto or override it, with a deadline of July 26. Both sides consider the House solidly behind the administration and say the real battle will be in the Senate.

Mr. Guinn is scheduled to travel to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to present his veto formally.

"The fight is not over; it's just beginning on a national level," Mr. Guinn said in an interview, adding that his state intended to spend $10 million to $16 million to fend off Yucca's designation. He will be joined on Capitol Hill by his state's senators, Harry Reid, a Democrat, and John Ensign, a Republican.

Mr. Guinn's trip here opens the national phase of a fight that Nevada, pinpointed years ago as the dump site in part because of its relative lack of population and political influence, has essentially been waging on its own. Now the state and its lobbyists plan to alert the rest of the country by highlighting the dangers of transporting waste.

Nevada has enlisted the services of two ex-chiefs of staff to former presidents - John Podesta, who served President Bill Clinton, and Kenneth M. Duberstein, who worked for President Ronald Reagan. Nevada tried to enlist several other Republican lobbyists, but was turned down by those who did not want to cross the White House. Mr. Duberstein has long represented the American Gaming Association, which strongly opposes the dump for Yucca, which is 90 miles from Las Vegas.

The campaign plans television and billboard advertising across the country to spur people to put pressure on their senators.

Television commercials are expected to start soon in Vermont, where the don't-dump-in-Nevada team hopes to win the endorsement of Senator James M. Jeffords, an independent. Pro-environmental Republicans in the Northeast will also be targeted, including Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. But as the frenzy of phone calls after the Virginia accident showed, almost all Republicans are considered fair game.

Still, both sides say the Nevada-led campaign has an uphill climb. The last time the Senate voted on a measure that might reflect Nevada's strength, only 32 Democrats voted with the state against the dump.

On the other side is a powerful lineup: the Bush White House, the nuclear industry, several governors of states that have nuclear plants, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and a slew of lobbyists.

"They're running a fear-mongering campaign," William L. Kovacs, vice president of environment, technology and regulatory affairs at the Chamber of Commerce said of the dumping opponents.

He said that newspaper editorials were running 6-to-1 in favor of using Yucca Mountain, in part because in the last 40 years, more than 3,000 shipments of spent nuclear fuel had traveled 1.6 million miles in the United States with no radiation-related injuries or deaths.

Governor Guinn bristled at suggestions that his state was not patriotic, saying that Nevada endured years of atom bomb tests. "We've been patriotic, more so than anyone else," said Mr. Guinn. He said that his campaign would focus on Spencer Abraham, the energy secretary, for recommending that President Bush support Yucca rather than on President Bush.

"I love what Bush is doing for America," Governor Guinn said, adding that the Yucca decision just happened to occur "on his watch."

--------

Nevada Triggers Nuclear Waste Battle in Congress

April 9, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-energy-congress-yucca.html

WASHINGTON - Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, fighting the Bush administration's plan to put the first permanent U.S. nuclear waste dump in his state, on Tuesday delivered his veto to Congress -- which now has 90 working days to sustain or override him.

``We have an uphill battle,'' said Guinn, flanked by members of Nevada's congressional delegation who have struggled to round up Democratic and Republican lawmakers to oppose President Bush's adoption of a recommendation by his Energy Department.

``If the political system fails us, the court system will not,'' declared Guinn, whose state has already challenged the plans in federal court.

Guinn, a Republican, said he was the first governor ever to veto a decision by a president, having been granted the power to do so in a 1982 federal law on nuclear waste disposal.

In a decision two decades in the making, Bush in February named Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the permanent federal site to store tens of thousands of tons of waste from nuclear power plants across the nation.

Despite the administration's claims to the contrary, Nevada and its backers contend it would be unsafe to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and to transport such material by truck and rail to the underground site.

Guinn argued that selection of Yucca Mountain was based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy.

Several states with nuclear power plants, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, support the Yucca Mountain designation. Together they have hired an army of lobbyists to make their case on Capitol Hill.

SENATE SUPPORT SEEN AS KEY

Guinn -- who has enlisted lobbyists of his own -- vetoed the president's action on Monday and delivered the notice of disapproval to Congress on Tuesday.

Under federal law, the Senate and House of Representatives now have 90 legislative days to override or sustain him. For Guinn's veto to be overridden, both chambers of Congress must agree to do so on majority votes.

Guinn backers are pessimistic about prevailing in the Republican-led House. They see the Democratic-led Senate as their only real shot, but stress it will be tough.

Yucca Mountain opponents say they expect to get about three dozen of the Senate's 50 Democratic senators to side with them. So far just two of the 49 Republicans -- Sen. John Ensign of Nevada and Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado -- have said they will do so.

Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont, the chamber's only independent, backs Bush's decision.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Tuesday he will soon send to Congress a formal request that it override Guinn.

``The Energy Department has spent more than $4 billion over the past 20 years studying and studying and researching Yucca Mountain,'' Abraham told reporters. ``I'm absolutely convinced that we can move ahead safely with this project.''

Even if the Yucca Mountain proposal survives court challenges and Congress, it would still have to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Abraham said, ``The logical step is to let the objective and neutral experts at the NRC make a final decision on whether the project should go ahead.''

Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, a member of the Republican leadership, predicted the chamber would override the veto, but said it may have to clear a number of Democratic procedural hurdles.

Craig noted 35 states have nuclear plants that need a place to deposit radioactive waste and said their senators were likely to vote to override the Nevada veto.

As chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and as required by law, New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman introduced a resolution on Tuesday to approve the Yucca Mountain site.

But opponents of the project were confident Bingaman would bottle up the resolution, at least for the time being, aides said.

Bingaman said in a statement he would soon hold hearings on the matter that will ``fairly and thoughtfully examine all sides of this important issue.''

--------

Nevada Fights Nuke Waste Storage

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Yucca-Mountain.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nevada's congressional delegation and its governor predicted Tuesday an uphill fight in Congress to keep thousands of tons of nuclear waste from being shipped into their state.

``The deck is stacked against us. We're going to try to restack the deck,'' said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who knows something about card games as a former chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission.

While the Nevadans are facing a long-shot chance of succeeding, they outlined their essential strategy at a news conference: Convince enough lawmakers that it's too risky to allow thousands of shipments of nuclear waste to travel by highway and rail across their states.

A majority of nuclear reactors are located in the eastern half of the country.

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, formally rejected construction of the Yucca facility in papers filed with Congress on Monday, leaving the next step to the House and Senate. President Bush in February directed that the Nevada site be built, but under the law Nevada has a right to veto that decision. Congress, in turn, can override Nevada's objection.

The procedures outlined by the law assure that Congress move as quickly as possible to consider a resolution upholding the president's decision. Unlike normal legislation, no senator may filibuster the resolution and any senator may bring it to the Senate floor for consideration after 60 days. Congress has 90 legislative days to act, or the Yucca site will be abandoned.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced the resolution Tuesday, saying the law compelled the committee chairman to do so. Bingaman, who has voted against the Yucca project in the past, promised to ``hold hearings that will fairly and thoughtfully examine all sides of this important issue.''

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle told Reid he would ``try and ensure'' that no Democratic senator acts to bring the resolution up for floor consideration. While Daschle normally would control when a measure is taken up by the Senate, in this case any Republican senator may force Senate action after a 60-day waiting period. Approval is by majority.

``We have an uphill fight to pick up 49 more votes,'' said Reid.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and other supporters argue that the waste can be stored safely at the Nevada site, which eventually would contain 77,000 tons of waste that will remain radioactive for more than 10,000 years. If Congress gives the go-ahead, the Energy Department must still receive a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and also faces a court challenge.

``Our court case will be very strong,'' said Guinn.

Nevada's lawsuit charges that the Energy Department was obligated to find a disposal site where the geology will keep the waste from escaping into the environment for thousands of years. The lawsuit alleges the Yucca site does not meet that standard, requiring manmade barriers whose future performance is uncertain.

For the time being, however, the Nevadans hope to convince enough members of Congress to question the transportation of thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste from civilian power reactors and federal facilities in 34 states.

``It isn't a question of if there will be an accident, it's a question of when and where,'' maintained Reid.

He said there will be more than 120,000 shipments over 24 years by both rail and highway. The Energy Department has yet to develop a detailed transportation plan showing routes, but administration officials and the nuclear industry maintain that the shipments can be conducted safely and securely.

On the Net:
Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ymp.gov
Nuclear Energy Institute: http://www.nei.org
Nuclear Information and Research Service: http://www.nirs.org

-------- ohio

Ohio Nuke Plant Review Moves Ahead

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 9, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22263-2002Apr9?language=printer
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Davis-Besse.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Preliminary findings of an industrywide review have turned up nothing similar to the circumstances that led to boric acid nearly eating through the 6-inch tick metal reactor cap at an Ohio power plant, federal regulators said Tuesday.

Officials at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told an advisory panel that they still need to closely review many of the responses from the industry, but that none reported major concentrations of boric acid atop their reactor vessels.

``We haven't seen anything similar so far,'' said Jack ', director of the NRC's engineering division. But he said the agency is ``casting a wide net'' to ensure that reactor operators take steps to inspect the reactor vessels for boric acid accumulations.

The industry and federal regulators were caught by surprise when it was discovered in March that longtime leaks in reactor nozzles had resulted in a large accumulation of boric acid atop the reactor vessel at the Davis Besse plant. It burned a 7-inch wide hole almost through the 6-inch thick steel vessel containing the reactor fuel.

Only a 3/8ths of an inch inner lining, made of noncorrosive stainless steel, prevented the hole from penetrating into the reactor core and causing a loss of vital cooling water and possibly further problems.

After the incident, the NRC directed operators of all 68 other similarly designed pressurized reactors across the country to inspect rector vessels or give other assurances that they did not have a dangerous buildup of boric acid, which is contained in reactor cooling water.

Industry representatives told the advisory panel that operators of 27 reactors have reported some boric acid leakage. In 22 of the cases, there was no accumulation of acid found on the reactor vessel. But in five other cases, inspections were limited or could not be performed and more information is being prepared, officials said.

Larry Matthews, an official of Southern Nuclear and chairman of an industry task force looking at the pressure nozzle leaking problem, said no one has found any indication of rector vessel corrosion such as occurred at the Ohio plant.

Operators of 41 other reactors reported no boric acid deposits after conducting new inspections or reviewing recent inspection records, he said.

Officials of First Energy Nuclear Operating Co., which runs the Davis Besse plant, said they have concluded that cracks that caused major leaks of water in one of the reactor nozzles were the root cause of the accumulation of boric acid that ate into the top of the 6-inch thick steel vessel containing the reactor fuel.

Steve Loehlein, leader of the company's team investigating the incident, said the nozzle probably had been leaking since 1994, at times leaking as much as 12 gallons of water per hour. Boric acid had accumulated at the top of the reactor vessel where the leaking nozzle was situated and the corrosion had probably been under way for at least four years, he said.

Leaks are not uncommon at power plants. But the water normally turns immediately into steam as it leaves the highly pressurized reactor vessel turning the boric acid into a harmless powder.

In the case of Davis Besse, investigators have speculated that for some reason moisture remained -- perhaps because of the long accumulation of residue -- creating boric acid, which is highly corrosive to the carbon steel. The top of the reactor vessel is difficult to access and observe. Insulation is located just inches above the vessel.

But NRC inspectors told the advisory panel that there were several ``missed opportunities'' for the operators of the Davis Besse plant to head off serious problems. There were several indications that serious corrosion was occurring atop the rector vessel, but those indictors were not pursued, the panel was told.

The early warnings were outlined earlier this week by the NRC at a public meeting in Ohio.

-------- us nuc waste

Nevada Triggers Nuclear Waste Battle in Congress

Tue Apr 9, 2002
By Thomas Ferraro
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020409/ts_nm/energy_congress_yucca_dc_5

WASHINGTON - Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, fighting the Bush administration's plan to put the nation's first permanent nuclear waste dump in his state, on Tuesday delivered his veto of the project to Congress, which now has 90 working days to sustain or override him.

"We have an uphill battle," said Guinn, flanked by members of Nevada's congressional delegation who have struggled to round up lawmakers to oppose President Bush's adoption of a recommendation by his Energy Department.

"If the political system fails us, the court system will not," declared Guinn, whose state has already challenged the plans in federal court.

Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, a member of the Republican leadership, predicted the chamber would override the veto, but said it may have to clear a number of Democratic procedural hurdles.

"Thirty-five times two," Craig said when asked to predict how many senators would vote to override. He explained that 35 states, each with two senators, have nuclear plants that need a place to deposit radioactive waste.

"That might be Idaho math, but I don't think it's going to work out that way," replied Senate Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada, helping lead the charge against the project.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said he expected at least 30 fellow Senate Democrats to vote to sustain Guinn's veto and called on Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican also opposed to the project, to deliver at least 20 Republicans in the 100-member chamber.

"Just 20 Republicans and we win," Daschle said.

Thus far, however, there are just two Senate Republicans who have publicly opposed the project -- Ensign and Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado.

As chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and as required by law, New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman introduced a resolution on Tuesday to approve the Yucca Mountain site.

But opponents of the project were confident Bingaman, who has not yet staked out a position on the project, would bottle up the resolution, at least for the time being, aides said.

Bingaman said in a statement he would soon hold hearings on the matter that will "fairly and thoughtfully examine all sides of this important issue."

Guinn, a Republican, said he was the first governor ever to veto a decision by a president, having been granted the power to do so in a 1982 federal law on nuclear waste disposal.

In a decision two decades in the making, Bush in February named Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the permanent federal site to store tens of thousands of tons of waste from nuclear power plants across the nation.

Despite the administration's claims to the contrary, Nevada and its backers contend it would be unsafe to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and to transport such material by truck and rail to the underground site.

Guinn argued that selection of Yucca Mountain was based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy.

Several states with nuclear power plants, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, support the Yucca Mountain designation. Together they have hired an army of lobbyists to make their case on Capitol Hill.

SENATE SUPPORT SEEN AS KEY

Guinn -- who has enlisted lobbyists of his own -- vetoed the president's action on Monday and delivered the notice of disapproval to Congress on Tuesday.

Under federal law, the Senate and House of Representatives now have 90 legislative days to override or sustain him. For Guinn's veto to be overridden, both chambers of Congress must agree to do so on majority votes.

Guinn backers are pessimistic about prevailing in the Republican-led House. They see the Democratic-led Senate as their only real shot, but stress it will be tough.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Tuesday he will soon send to Congress a formal request that it override Guinn.

"The Energy Department has spent more than $4 billion over the past 20 years studying and studying and researching Yucca Mountain," Abraham told reporters. "I'm absolutely convinced that we can move ahead safely with this project."

Even if the Yucca Mountain proposal survives court challenges and Congress, it would still have to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Abraham said, "The logical step is to let the objective and neutral experts at the NRC make a final decision on whether the project should go ahead."


-------- MILITARY

-------- afghanistan

U.S. - Backed Afghan Patrol Attacked

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Afghan-Attack.html

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- An Afghan military patrol working with U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan was attacked with grenades Tuesday, a local official said. Three people were killed including the two attackers.

The attack occurred on a road in eastern Paktia province, where the United States launched Operation Anaconda last month -- the largest ground offensive of the Afghan war.

A local security official, Ezatullah Ahmadzai, said the attackers hurled two grenades at a military pickup truck in the district of Mullakheil, killing one person and wounding two.

He said pro-U.S. Afghan forces in the bed of the truck opened fire on the two perpetrators, killing both of them.

Ahmadzai said the Afghan attackers were working for a local warlord named Bacha Khan Zardran, who also works alongside U.S. special forces and who has been involved in several recent turf wars in the region.

Ahmadzai said Afghan security forces arrested Halib Khan, one of Zardran's commanders, and turned him over to U.S. troops.

Zardran's forces also fought with U.S. troops in Operation Anaconda. It was not immediately clear why his troops would be involved in an attack on other pro-U.S. Afghans.

--------

Bin Laden absent on airwaves

April 9, 2002
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020409-37390007.htm

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday pointed out that fugitive Osama bin Laden has not released one of his trademark videotapes in recent months, saying his al Qaeda terror network seems more busy surviving than attacking.

"It is interesting to me that Osama bin Laden doesn't seem to be putting out any videotapes lately," Mr. Rumsfeld told a Pentagon press conference.

The defense chief stopped short of saying he believes bin Laden is dead or incapacitated. But he suggested that bin Laden and his al Qaeda fighters are preoccupied with survival. "If you put enough pressure on it so that it makes their lives more difficult, you have, indeed, accomplished something, it seems to me."

Bin Laden, on whom the United States has placed a $25 million bounty, last released a video in late December. The 33-minute tape was probably made in early December just as the Taliban was losing control of its last bastion, Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. On the video, bin Laden appeared gaunt and emotionally stressed. He did not move his left arm.

Bin Laden typically communicates with the Muslim masses through tapes broadcast on the Al Jazeera satellite network in Qatar. His silence has spurred speculation in some military intelligence circles that he was wounded during intense U.S. air strikes on suspected al Qaeda hide-outs.

A senior U.S. official said yesterday the government does not know exactly why bin Laden is off the air.

"It could be because he is totally focused on survival and is hunkering down," said the official, "or that he's concerned his tape distribution method might compromise his location, or that he may be injured in some way that would make it hard for him to do a tape."

Officials believe bin Laden remains hidden in Pakistan or in Afghanistan, his second place of residency after Saudi Arabia sent him into exile in the early 1990s. The terrorism mastermind lived in Sudan before moving to Afghanistan in 1996 and propping up the harsh Taliban government of Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Privately, officials say the hunt for bin Laden remains as intense today as it did after September 11. President Bush at one point said he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive."

But recently, the administration has downplayed the importance of capturing or killing the al Qaeda leader amid a realization that it may take months or years to find him.

The administration's main goal now is to dismantle bin Laden's 60-country al Qaeda network.

"It's hard to find an individual," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "That's why when we began this thing I did not personalize it into [bin Laden] or Omar. Some of the Nazi war criminals weren't caught for years afterwards. Years. They found them in South America."

Giving a report card on a war campaign that began six months ago, the defense secretary said: "The task in Afghanistan was to get the al Qaeda and the Taliban out of there and have the interim authority take over. They've done that. And to have it not be a haven for terrorists, and it is not a haven for terrorists at the present time."

Since U.S. forces declared victory in Operation Anaconda on March 19, there have been no reported major engagements with al Qaeda or Taliban fighters.

U.S. surveillance by Navy P-3 Orion aircraft, Predator drones and satellites continues to focus on eastern Afghanistan, around the towns of Gardez and Khost. Officials say local Afghans are providing CIA paramilitary officers and special operations forces with tips about new al Qaeda hide-outs.

After congregating south of Gardez and losing hundreds of lives in Anaconda, al Qaeda may have switched strategies and is staying in small groups.

"They're looking for an opportunity to reassemble and do damage," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "And if they can't do damage by reassembling, I don't have a doubt in my mind but that they'll do damage in smaller units - onesies and twosies - and they'll be looking for opportunities to kill people."

The U.S. long-range plan for Afghanistan is to hand over al Qaeda-hunting duties to emerging national armed forces, Mr. Rumsfeld said yesterday.

It appeared to be the first concrete explanation from the Bush administration on how the military will one day exit Afghanistan. But Mr. Rumsfeld offered no timetable for the changeover, as the interim government of Hamid Karzai is still trying to consolidate power and rid the nation of warlordism.

The Karzai government recently graduated its first 600 recruits. Army Special Forces soldiers are helping train the new force, which will attempt to extend security measures outside Kabul into regions ruled for years by warlords.

-------- arms sales

Pentagon Talks Taiwan Military Aid

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Taiwan.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States can help Taiwan as much by improving its military as it can by selling it new weapons, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Taiwanese defense officials at a closed-door conference.

``We are eager to help'' Taiwan strengthen civilian control of its military, make more rational purchases of new weapons and improve coordination between its army, navy and air force, Wolfowitz said.

His remarks were delivered March 11 at a conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., organized by the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, whose chairman is a former defense secretary, Frank Carlucci. The speech was off-limits to reporters and the Pentagon refused to release a copy of Wolfowitz's remarks except in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The conference was especially sensitive for the Bush administration because it granted a U.S. visa to Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming to attend the session, a move that angered the Chinese government. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and opposes U.S.-Taiwan military ties.

In a sign of its anger over U.S. dealings with Taiwan, China refused a request by the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer based in Yokosuka, Japan, to make a port call this week at Hong Kong.

China also is expected to object to U.S. plans to send a delegation to Taiwan to present proposals for supplying the Taiwan navy with diesel-powered submarines, a sale first proposed by the Bush administration last April. The Pentagon is reviewing industry proposals for building the submarines, and spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said Tuesday that the meeting in Taiwan could happen by May.

The United States broke off relations with Taiwan in 1979 in order to establish official ties with the communist Chinese government, but it keeps an unofficial embassy on the island and is its biggest weapons supplier.

In the Capitol on Tuesday, House members announced creation of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, which quickly and quietly gathered 85 members -- 46 Republicans, 38 Democrats and one independent.

``The message behind the formation of the Taiwan caucus,'' said co-founder Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is: ``To those dictators who control the mainland: Keep your bloody hands off of Taiwan.'' The audience, including 14 members of Taiwan's legislative Yuan, heartily applauded.

In his speech, Wolfowitz repeated the standard U.S. statement that it opposes Taiwan independence but will do ``whatever it takes'' to help Taiwan defend itself. Wolfowitz's emphasis on improving the quality of Taiwan's military training, as well as the quality of its weaponry, reflects an administration belief that Taiwan faces a growing threat from China's military modernization.

``Taiwan needs reform in its defense establishment to meet the challenges of the 21st century,'' Wolfowitz said.

Wolfowitz cited the hundreds of shorter-range ballistic missiles that China has stationed across the Taiwan Strait.

``These missiles are clearly designed to project a threatening posture, and to try to intimidate the people and the democratically elected government of Taiwan -- so far, I'm happy to say, without much success,'' he said.

Wolfowitz said the Pentagon also is watching closely the modernization of China's navy, which could eventually pose problems for Taiwan.

``Taiwan needs to remain vigilant, and it should commit to increasing professionalism of its military ranks, and increasing jointness among its services to keep pace with potential changes in the security situation in the strait,'' he said.

-------- balkans

Belgrade Set to Pass War Crime Law to Unfreeze Aid

April 9, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-yugoslavia-warcrimes.html

BELGRADE - The Yugoslav parliament is set to adopt a war crimes law in an emergency measure on Wednesday that would clear the way for sending fugitives to the U.N. Hague Tribunal and lift a freeze on U.S. aid.

Having sparred over such a law almost since the day they ousted Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, reformist leaders finally agreed a compromise bill this week under threat of a return to international isolation. ``The draft law on cooperation with the Hague tribunal has been unanimously adopted. All members of the government showed awareness of the need to adopt such a law,'' Federal Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic told Reuters Tuesday evening.

In a concession to a coalition partner that blocked similar bills in the past, the draft was watered down to allow only the transfer of suspects the tribunal has already indicted. Under its terms handovers could take place within about two weeks.

The government hopes it will be adopted Wednesday, as Washington is anxious to see more suspects turned over. Belgrade has already missed a March 31 deadline set by the U.S. Congress to cooperate with the U.N. court.

Washington then suspended about $40 million in aid and is withholding support in international financial institutions for much larger loans. It has made clear that Belgrade must deliver suspects to end the freeze, law or no law.

MAJOR IMPLICATIONS

Cooperation with the court has huge financial implications for Yugoslavia, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid to help repair an economy shattered by a decade of wars, sanctions, mismanagement and neglect under Milosevic.

But many Serbs see the court as biased against their nation and strongly oppose handing over indictees some view as heroes of the Balkan wars.

That issue has been one of the major battlegrounds in a power struggle between Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and his arch-rival Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.

Kostunica, a self-styled moderate nationalist, insists Yugoslavia needs a special law before handing over suspects, though Washington and Hague prosecutors say none is necessary.

Djindjic earned a reputation as a pragmatist when he sent Milosevic to The Hague without such a law last year. But he is reluctant to act alone again, preferring to press Kostunica to engineer a law and share the political flak.

The tribunal is seeking a total of 33 fugitives, the vast majority of them believed to be in Yugoslavia or Bosnia's Serb Republic. The most wanted are Bosnian Serb wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, both charged with genocide.

However, three former top state officials indicted with Milosevic over Kosovo are widely seen as more likely candidates for early handovers. They stand accused of responsibility for the mass killings and expulsions of Kosovo Albanians

The trio are former Yugoslav deputy premier Nikola Sainovic, the Yugoslav Army's ex-chief of staff Dragoljub Ojdanic and former Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic.

-------- biological weapons

District not ready for germ attack

April 9, 2002
By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20020409-75912500.htm

The District is vulnerable to a biochemical attack because its hazardous materials team is composed of firefighters whose training is inadequate and whose gear is so worn out that they fear for their safety, according to a report on the city's emergency preparedness.

The report, submitted by the Marasco Newton Group in December, found the city's hazardous-materials unit deficient in all 10 criteria it measured, including staffing, training and competency.

It recommended that the unit "needs improvement" or "needs significant improvement" in all areas.

"Although many of the [crew members] were dedicated firefighters, the existing HAZMAT unit suffers from a lack of funding, training, staffing, equipment and top fire management support," the report says. "A number of [those] assigned to the unit expressed concern for their own safety and their ability to provide a competent response to the community."

The report said "a number of outside agencies" shared "concerns regarding the safety and competencies of the hazardous materials unit within [the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services]."

The team of six specialists who prepared the report talked with representatives from the Secret Service, the FBI, the U.S. Capitol Police, and emergency officials from Northern Virginia and Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

Among the report's findings:

• The city's hazardous materials unit is "cobbled together using overtime staff."

•Hazardous materials training is "substandard," the department has provided "little or no refresher training, and many training records are missing."

•Many department personnel that have hazardous materials training and experience have been promoted or reassigned from the unit, "thus depriving the District of valuable resources."

•Rescue vehicles carry very limited detection and decontamination equipment, and no containment equipment. Skills maintenance, including use and calibration of monitoring equipment, has been minimal.

The report was commissioned by D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, but it has not been widely distributed in the four months since it was submitted to the city. It has been seen by D.C. Fire Chief Ronnie Few and Assistant Chief of Operations Adrian Thompson but not by Kathy Patterson, chairman of the D.C. Council's Judiciary Committee, which oversees the fire department or many other city officials.

"Whatever deficiencies the report identifies, management in the department is working to rectify," fire department spokeswoman Lisa Bass said yesterday. Chief Few is expected to testify tomorrow before a congressional committee on the state of emergency preparedness in the District.

The 32-page report, titled "Assessment of Capability for Sustained Hazardous Materials Response for the City of Washington, D.C.," was produced for Marasco Newton by subcontractor Environmental Hazards Management Institute.

The institute's emergency-response experts read internal memos from Mr. Williams and the highest-level officials in the fire department. The team also interviewed city and federal personnel, as well as emergency officials from surrounding jurisdictions about the District's problems.

What makes the lightly-industrialized District so vulnerable to emergencies?

Apart from its symbolic attraction to terrorists, the report points out the city's role as host to emotion-laden national and international events, such as the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meetings due to start April 20. Given the violent protests that occurred two years ago, such incidents make an alert, well-trained hazardous materials team all the more important in the District.

Also, the potential for accidental biochemical spills is great. The report cites a "high" risk of a hazardous materials incident from a significant number of universities, hospitals, military and law enforcement facilities, research labs and printing and engraving plants in the city, as well as spills along well-traveled rail-freight lines.

Based on the unique design of the District, with its many traffic circles, the report says it would be hard to evacuate people from the city and to move emergency vehicles through it.

Taking into consideration the number of elderly or disabled residents, those who don't speak English and the surprising number of people who don't have telephones or vehicles, the report assesses the city's vulnerabilities as "high."

-------- business

Bruce Lazier, P.E. Senior Oil Analyst Joins Uranium Power

Press Release
SOURCE: Uranium Power Corp.
Tuesday April 9,
BUSINESS WIRE
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020409/92713_1.html

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Thornton Donaldson, President of Uranium Power Corporation is pleased to report that Bruce Lazier, P.E. will be advising the Company on all aspects of it's Athabasca Oil Project as well as overall corporate development.

Thornton Donaldson notes, ``The Company will benefit from Bruce Lazier's years of experience not only as a senior oil analyst but also a petroleum engineer who has in depth knowledge of the North American and European Oil Investment Community.''

Bruce E. Lazier earned a B.S./M.S. in Petroleum Engineering plus his MBA at Stanford University. He also did doctoral work in finance at New York University. Prior to moving to Texas, Lazier was a senior energy analyst for several New York securities firms after 10 years with Mobil. Currently, he covers 30 oil exploration and production companies, with market caps ranging from $25 million to $5 billion

Bruce Lazier stated that ``it is a pleasure to be associated with Uranium Power Corporation which has a controlling interest in the Athabasca Project that has significant exploration potential. For a company to be successful, it needs good people, the right project and the money to fund it and that's exactly our focus: management, assets and financial capability.''

Thornton Donaldson also reports that, given the world-class potential of the Athabasca Project, the company, will be changing its name to Anhydride Petroleum Inc.

For further information please review the company's website at www.apioil.net

-------- colombia

No end in sight to Colombia's increasingly brutal war

Tuesday, April 09, 2002
By Susannah A. Nesmith,
Associated Press
http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/04/04092002/ap_46882.asp

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's sorrow seems like a bottomless well, with each day bringing a new barbarity in the long-running civil war. In only one weekend, a priest was shot dead as he delivered communion, two other clerics were kidnapped, and bombs killed 12 civilians out for a night on the town.

Rebel attacks on one of the country's main pipelines partially paralyzed oil production, and apparent rebel sabotage cut off electricity to 15 towns and water to some 200,000 Colombians.

Since Colombia's peace process collapsed on Feb. 20, the bad news has piled up faster than ever in the nation's 38-year-old civil war, with each new atrocity worse than the last.

"Colombia is a country that is disintegrating violently," said Gustavo Petro, a congressman who has received death threats. "The cup has already overflowed and this means that everyone who is in the country is very much affected."

The violence is reaching every sector of society and every region, Petro said.

The bombings Sunday that killed 12 and injured more than 60 in a popular nightclub district of Villavicencio, a provincial capital in the foothills of the Andes, horrified the country. Thousands packed into Villavicencio's central cathedral Monday for a funeral Mass for eight of the victims. Family members cried over the coffins before mourners crowded through the streets to the town's cemetery.

"The situation is one of confusion because an act of this cowardice and reach has not been felt in the city," said Omar Lopez, mayor of the town.

The intensifying mayhem has led to calls for a strong response from the government. Some have even called for President Andres Pastrana to suspend certain civil rights in order to enable authorities to better fight the outlawed armed groups. "With this kind of security situation, we can't continue using the legislation of a country in peace," presidential candidate Noemi Sanin told reporters Monday.

The other leading candidates in the May 26 election, including front-runner Alvaro Uribe, have urged Pastrana to declare a "state of internal commotion" - short of martial law but which would allow the government to restrict travel, impose curfews, and detain suspected insurgents without charges.

Meanwhile, pipes running from Villavicencio's main reservoir have been cut since Friday - apparently by rebels - leaving 200,000 people without running water, said Camilo Torres Puentes, head of the local water company. Repair crews have been unable to get to the site because of fighting in the area, Torres said in a telephone interview.

Police said Monday they have identified five suspects in Sunday's bombings and indicated that all the evidence points to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

No group has claimed responsibility for the killing Saturday of priest Juan Ramon Nunez in a Roman Catholic church in the village of La Argentina in mountainous Huila state in southern Colombia. But the 16,000-strong leftist FARC, Colombia's largest rebel force, is active in the area where the priest was killed.

Army officials also blamed the FARC for the attack on the Cano-Limon oil pipeline over the weekend. U.S. President George W. Bush has asked Congress for US$98 million to help the Colombian army protect the pipeline, which transports oil for Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum, and other companies.

A total of 232 electricity towers have been dynamited so far this year by rebels, compared to only 254 during all of last year, utility officials said Monday. Repairs on 11 towers downed on Friday have not even begun because there is no way to guarantee the safety of work crews

Two priests were kidnapped Saturday in the humid plains of eastern Arauca state. Colombia's second-biggest rebel group, the National Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings Monday, saying the clerics would be freed only if local media published guerrilla communiques.

-------- iraq

U.N.: Iraq Oil Suspension Hurts Aid

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-UN-Iraq-Oil.html

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Iraq's decision to suspend oil exports until Israeli troops withdraw from Palestinian territories will exacerbate financial problems facing the U.N. humanitarian aid program in Iraq, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Halting exports will result in an estimated revenue loss of $1.3 billion for the oil-for-food humanitarian program which is funded by Iraqi oil revenues, according to the U.N. Office of the Iraq Program.

The program was already facing a revenue shortfall this year as Iraqi oil exports slumped by about 25 percent because of what Iraqi officials say is a controversial pricing policy instituted by the U.N. committee monitoring sanctions on Iraq.

Iraq announced Monday that it was halting its oil exports through the oil-for-food program for 30 days or until Israel pulls out its troops and tanks.

As a result of the announcement, the U.N.'s Iraq Program projected total revenue generated by oil sales during the current six-month phase of the oil-for-food program at $4.2 billion, down from an early estimate of $5.5 billion. The current phase ends on May 30.

Because of the expected loss of revenue, the oil-for-food program is now $3.6 billion short in funds to purchase humanitarian goods already ordered by Iraq, the U.N. program said.

The oil-for-food program was created in 1996 to help ordinary Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Under an exemption to sanctions, the program allows Iraq to sell unlimited amounts of oil to buy humanitarian goods for its civilians.

According to the most recent U.N. figures, Iraqi oil exports have averaged about 1.5 million barrels a day over the past month, down from a more normal average of about 2 million barrels a day.

-------- israel / palestine

Refugee Camps Are Now Battlegrounds

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Mideast-Battle-of-the-Camps.html

AL-AIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) -- When Israeli battle tanks rumbled up to this Palestinian refugee camp, they were met with bursts of gunfire, a road strewn with homemade land mines, intersections blocked by burning barricades -- all in all, exactly the reception that would have been expected.

Israeli soldiers have at times subdued entire Palestinian cities with only minimal resistance, but refugee camps are another story. Crowded, poor and simmering with fury, the camps have proven the deadliest battlegrounds of Israel's 12-day military offensive in the West Bank.

That was the case again Tuesday, when Palestinian militants ambushed Israeli soldiers during intense fighting in the Jenin refugee camp, firing from rooftops and setting off explosions that collapsed a building on troops in an alley. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed and nine wounded -- the single bloodiest attack against Israeli troops since fighting between the two sides erupted 18 months ago.

Palestinians, too, are suffering some of their heaviest casualties in the camps. By the estimates of both sides, more than 100 Palestinians -- some gunmen, some civilians -- have been killed in the Jenin camp during the past week.

Other refugee camps have been dealt more glancing blows, like the Balata camp in the West Bank's largest city of Nablus, where residents say tank shells shattered 25 homes and killed six people, or the Al-Ain camp, also in Nablus, where gunbattles broke out twice in the past week.

Israeli military incursions into refugee camps are a relatively new phenomenon in the current conflict, taking place only in the last six weeks. But in many ways, camp warfare is the inevitable culmination of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's vow to pursue Palestinian militants wherever they try to seek sanctuary.

Most of the refugee camps are strongholds of radical Palestinian groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and, more recently, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which have carried out dozens of attacks against Israelis.

But first and foremost, the refugee camps are home to Palestinian civilians -- more than 600,000 live in 27 refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Far from being the temporary tent communities the name might suggest, they are cities within cities, full-scale urban zones with schools and hospitals, clinics and mosques.

Without exception, the camps are extremely crowded. Families of 10 or 12 children are not unusual. Most of the camps stayed within their original boundaries as their populations have swelled over the years, with families adding rooms to their cinderblock shanties if they can, until only the narrowest of alleyways remain between rows of houses.

The sheer density of humanity is what makes the camps so dangerous during fighting -- primarily for civilians, but also for well-equipped, well-protected Israeli soldiers. The troops can't drive tanks and armored personnel carriers through camp alleyways, so if they want to search house-to-house for gunmen and weapons, they must fan out on foot.

The soldiers' typical method of making their way through the camps is to burst into one home and batter holes through the wall to the next. This shields them from ambush in the open, but is terrifying and sometimes fatal for families whose homes are thus invaded. Last month, in the Deheishe refugee camp in Bethlehem, a young mother bled to death in front of her horrified family after she was hit by shrapnel when soldiers used an explosive charge to blow open the door of their home.

``Every night in my nightmares I imagine that this is happening -- that they are breaking open the door to my house,'' said Hussein Hosain, who lives in Nablus' Askar camp, also the scene of clashes this week.

If gunmen holed up in a camp are offering fierce resistance -- as they did in Jenin and elsewhere -- the army routinely brings withering firepower to bear. At such close quarters, battlefield weapons like tank shells, heavy machine gun fire and helicopter-fired rockets -- even if aimed with some precision at militants who are shooting at soldiers -- invariably kill and maim many civilians as well.

Even when Israel batters a refugee camp into temporary submission, vanquished fighters can exact their revenge. There have been several close-range suicide attacks by Palestinians in the Jenin camp, Israeli commanders say, including a woman who blew herself up with an explosives belt when troops came to her door.

Those living in the camps are the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during Israel's war of independence 54 years ago. Critics say Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority discourages refugees from settling permanently elsewhere in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, preferring to keep the camps as a symbol of determination to reclaim land and homes in what is now Israel.

The camps were a driving force behind the last uprising, or intefadeh, against Israel, from 1987 to 1993. That conflict broke out in the Jebaliya refugee camp in Gaza, the biggest in the Palestinian territories.

Then, as now, men and boys from the refugee camps -- bitter, dispossessed, believing they had little to lose -- were disproportionately represented in the ranks of stone-throwers and fighters.

Israel claims the well-fortified backstreets of refugee camps are prime locations for bombmaking factories -- which has sometimes been backed up with evidence, sometimes not.

During a deadly assault in Jebaliya last month, Israeli rocket and missile attacks destroyed several factories Israel said were making munitions. One of the wrecked industrial sites, Palestinian neighbors maintain, was a ceramics factory and another retooled old car engines.

Because those living in the camps tend to be among the poorest of the Palestinian poor, the property destruction that accompanies a military incursion is a devastating blow to families already struggling to survive. Even those who escape an attack unharmed can be seen weeping and cursing over the loss of meager possessions.

``I live in fear that this will happen to us -- my brother and I worked all our lives to build this house,'' said Ghassan Osman, 26, from the Balata camp, who said tank shells had landed close by several times in the past few days.

``It is such a poor house, but it is all we have,'' he said, adding that the two brothers, together with their wives and children, had only recently been able to move from a tin-roofed shanty elsewhere in the camp to a cement-block house with a proper roof. ``If we lose it, I will feel as if we have lost our lives.''

----

French Cameraman Shot in W. Bank

By Ibrahim Hazboun
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20011-2002Apr9?language=printer

BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- A French cameraman was shot and wounded Tuesday at the entrance to a refugee camp in the northern West Bank, fellow reporters said. In Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers confiscated the videotapes of two foreign journalists.

The shooting and confiscation were among several incidents Tuesday involving journalists in the West Bank, where Israel launched its offensive March 29 after a series of Palestinian suicide bombings on Israeli citizens. The Israeli military has banned reporters from areas under its control, but the ban is not consistently enforced.

Six groups representing journalists - the local Foreign Press Association and five international bodies - issued a joint statement Tuesday calling on the Israeli government to lift the ban on reporters, calling it "excessive, unjustifiable and utterly counterproductive." The groups also appealed to "all the Palestinian factions to cease efforts to confiscate materials or intimidate journalists."

French cameraman Gilles Jacquier, a cameraman for France 2 television, became the third journalist shot and wounded since Israel began its incursion. Jacquier could not tell who shot him, his colleagues said.

Jacquier was traveling with a large group of journalists when he was hit by a bullet as he stepped out of his car at the entrance to el-Ain refugee camp near the city of Nablus. He fell to the ground, saying that he had been shot, said Associated Press Television News cameraman Nazeeh Darwazeh, who witnessed the scene.

Jacquier was wearing a flak jacket at the time, but the bullet penetrated his collarbone. Doctors displayed the small bullet that was removed from his body and said it came from either a handgun or an Uzi submachine gun. The Israeli-made weapon is no longer used by field units.

The Israeli military said it coordinated with Palestinians to evacuate Jacquier. He was reported to be in a stable condition.

In Bethlehem, Yuzuru Saito, a reporter with TV Tokyo, said soldiers stopped him as he walked with a cameraman in the narrow alleyways of the old city. The soldiers removed the tape from the camera. "Then he asked us to leave. He said 'You have one minute, if you don't we will shoot,' and we left." Saito told The Associated Press.

Also in Bethlehem, French cameraman Vincent Benhamou said he was interviewing families in their homes. When he left one house, he came face to face with Israeli soldiers. He said the soldiers were abusive and threatening.

The soldiers took his tape. "They pointed their weapons at me, they took the tape and asked me to leave immediately. I started walking away then I heard two single shots in the air," he said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the incidents, but noted that journalists were not allowed in Bethlehem. Several days ago the Israeli military declared the town a closed military zone and banned reporters.

Also in Bethlehem, Givara Budeiri, a reporter for the Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera, said she tried to leave Bethlehem because of illness, but Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint barred her car from leaving and fired at the ground. The army said it was looking into the incident.

----

Israeli troops leave two cities

April 9, 2002
By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020409-84098090.htm

JERUSALEM - Israel began pulling its troops from two West Bank cities today in a decision made just hours after a sharp rebuke from President Bush.

Just before dawn, tanks began leaving Tulkarm and Qalqiliya, as troops evacuated the town's schools and buildings after a week's occupation.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said yesterday the operations to wipe out the militant organization in the two towns were successful. Qalqiliya and Tulkarm, cities near Israel's border with the West Bank, have been centers for Palestinian suicide bombers.

The decision came only hours after a harsh, albeit indirect, exchange between Mr. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that underscored tensions between longtime allies over Israel's 11-day occupation of Palestinian territory.

Mr. Sharon began the day with a fiery speech to Israel's parliament, in which he vowed to "continue to operate, as speedily as possible, until the mission has been accomplished, until [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat's terrorist infrastructures are uprooted and until murderers holed up at various places are captured."

The Israeli leader's persistence in the face of international criticism baffled U.S. officials, including Mr. Bush, who two days earlier had called on Israel to withdraw.

"I meant what I said to the prime minister of Israel. I expect there to be withdrawal without delay," the president said during a visit to Knoxville, Tenn.

"And I also meant what I said to the Arab world, that in order for there to be peace, nations must stand up, leaders must stand up and condemn terrorism, terrorist activity.

"There is a mutual responsibility to achieve peace, and it's going to require leadership on both sides."

Apart from his public remarks, Mr. Bush sent his Middle East envoy, Gen. Anthony Zinni, to deliver the message personally to Mr. Sharon at his Jerusalem office.

The Israeli Defense Ministry said the army was ordered to "redeploy" around Qalqiliya and Tulkarm because it had completed its sweep for militants and weapons in the two cities.

There was no hint of a planned Israeli pullout from four other West Bank cities that were seized after a March 27 attack by a Palestinian suicide bomber that killed 27 persons in Israel.

Fighting continued yesterday in the Palestinian-ruled cities of Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah. In Bethlehem, Israeli troops exchanged fire with Palestinians in the Church of the Nativity - Jesus' traditional birthplace - where 200 gunmen and civilians remained holed up. Each side said the other fired first.

Israel has said it has killed about 200 Palestinians since the operation began.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, beginning an open-ended Mideast peace mission, drew fire from some regional leaders for delaying his arrival in Jerusalem until Thursday night or Friday.

Many believe that Mr. Sharon will not feel obliged to end the incursion until Mr. Powell arrives in Israel.

During a photo opportunity, King Mohammed VI of Morocco pointedly asked Mr. Powell, "Don't you think it was more important to go to Jerusalem first?"

Mr. Powell later told reporters he did not believe his decision to consult with moderate Arab leaders and European allies before heading to Jerusalem sent the wrong signal.

"It is important for me to prepare for such a trip to Jerusalem by consulting with Arab leaders, asking for their help and also by making sure that the entire international community rallies behind a vision as it rallies behind this effort," he said.

"And I think when those pieces are in place, I'm in a better position to go to Jerusalem as opposed to immediately going to Jerusalem without having done what I believe is appropriate preparation," Mr. Powell said.

International condemnation has been heaped upon the Israeli government since the military operation began 11 days ago.

Israeli has since occupied major Palestinian cities with troops, tanks and helicopter gunships, knocked down buildings, chewed up roads, and cut off water and electricity to tens of thousands of Palestinian homes.

The European Union has threatened to impose sanctions to force Israel to withdraw its troops.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan added to the condemnation yesterday, saying: "The whole world is demanding that Israel withdraw. I don't think the whole world, including the friends of the Israeli people and government, can be wrong."

It appeared last night that the limited Israeli withdrawal did little to assuage international criticism.

Mr. Powell, after a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in Morocco, called the promised withdrawal "encouraging" but said it did not go far enough.

"Let us hope that this is not a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but the beginning of a pullback," Mr. Powell told reporters.

The crown prince yesterday told Mr. Powell that Israel's continued military operations were doing serious damage to the United States' standing among the world's Arabs, according to his foreign policy adviser, Adel al-Jubeir.

In Israel, pleas for a withdrawal seemed to be landing softly among hard-liners in the government, who view a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings during the just-completed Passover holiday as their September 11.

"There is absolutely no equivalence between those who send teen-age suicide bombers to kill and maim, and those who take self-defense actions and try to uproot the infrastructure of terrorism," Mr. Sharon said.

In his speech to the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, which was frequently interrupted by Israeli-Arab lawmakers, he singled out his old nemesis Mr. Arafat as the mastermind behind the uprising that has claimed more than 1,500 Israeli and Palestinian lives since September 2000.

"In the territories under his rule, Arafat has established a regime of terror, which nationally and officially trains terrorists and incites, finances, arms and sends them to perpetuate murderous operations across Israel," he said.

Mr. Sharon directly addressed the Palestinian people, reminding them that he has no plans to permanently reoccupy their land, but urging them to oust Mr. Arafat.

"If you want to seize a place of honor among the family of nations, you must eschew terrorism, the murder of children and the elderly, the terrible violence, the murderous hatred and incitement," he said. "Do not surrender to those elements among you who have brought you one disaster after another over the past 55 years, because those same forces - they and not us - will."

-------- landmines

Veterans wage air war against land mines
TV campaign encircles Bush policymakers with ads urging U.S. to sign worldwide ban

Edward Epstein,
Chronicle Washington Bureau,
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/09/MN131130.DTL

Washington -- The campaign to ban land mines from the world is spending about $1.5 million on an ad campaign to get its message across to just a handful of people at the highest reaches of the Bush administration.

Those outside Washington have never seen the stark 30-second commercial broadcast repeatedly on cable TV in the capital area. The spot intercuts scenes of happy children playing hopscotch with victims of anti-personnel land mines. It urges President Bush to sign the 1997 Ottawa treaty banning the use, stockpiling, production and sale of the small, cheap bombs that have cost millions of people a limb or their lives.

"We're stepping up fast and hard to make sure the people in the White House understand there's a constituency out there for this," said Bobby Muller, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, which raised the money for the ad.

Muller's effort is typical of how many lobbying efforts are carried out in Washington, where millions of dollars are spent on broadcast and print ads aimed not at a mass audience but at influencing the decisions of the few and the powerful -- the president, Congress and government agencies.

"This is a political decision the White House is going to make," Muller said. That's the reason the anti-land mine campaign persuaded 124 members of the House of Representatives, including many of the Bay Area's liberal Democrats, to sign a letter asking Bush to join the leaders of 140 other nations who have already signed the treaty banning "dumb" mines that are set off when a person or animal steps on them.

Even the NBC-TV series "West Wing," which tries to feature hot political topics in its fictional White House, included the land mine debate in a recent episode.

Former President Bill Clinton, faced with opposition from American military leaders, didn't sign the treaty. Instead, he said the U.S. would sign by 2006 if new defensive technologies could be found to protect American soldiers in heavily armed places like the 150-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide Korean demilitarized zone.

One of the most heavily mined pieces of land in the world, the DMZ separates North Korea's army along the 38th parallel from the 37,000 U.S. soldiers in South Korea.

A decision by the Bush White House about the mine treaty was expected before the terrorist attacks of last September, but it was postponed and now could come any time. The president's bent toward unilateral American positions in foreign policy has been tempered since last Sept. 11 by the need to maintain an international coalition against terrorism, which might influence his decision.

Muller points out that America's NATO partners have signed the treaty. The United States hasn't produced anti-personnel mines since 1997, exported any since 1992 or planted any since the 1991 Persian Gulf war, and it has been destroying most of its stockpile. It also has been paying millions of dollars to clean up mines sown in countries such as Afghanistan and Cambodia, where thousands of civilians have been killed or injured by mines years after wars have ended.

"I think we have a better chance with Bush," a conservative Republican, than with Democrat Clinton, Muller said, because Bush "has established his bona fides as a wartime president" and could afford to tell the military the mines must go.

But to the treaty's opponents, these arguments miss a few key points.

There are still 14 countries that either produce mines or won't sign the treaty, including major powers Russia and China, and smaller nations such as Israel, which is surrounded by hostile states.

India and Pakistan, at loggerheads over the disputed territory of Kashmir, also won't sign.

And there's North Korea.

The classified Pentagon review reportedly has advised Bush not to sign the treaty and to maintain the right to use anti-personnel mines for commando-like special operations.

"Mines can be a vital tool in the hands of our military," said Baker Spring,

a military analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "These arms- control advocates focus on civilian casualties, which are horrible, but hardly any are caused by U.S.-laid mines.

"No civilian is going to be wandering around willy-nilly in the Korean DMZ."

Spring also said that despite good intentions, international bans on weapons wouldn't work unless there was universal compliance. "Is it wise for the United States to sign a treaty banning weapons that other countries will continue to use?" Spring asked.

Also, he said, for all the talk of options to using mines along the DMZ, none has been found that the U.S. military considers reliable.

Muller countered that the treaty doesn't ban bigger, anti-tank mines and allows the use of command-controlled mines, which can be turned on during periods of high alert, then turned off by remote control.

If Bush doesn't sign the treaty, Muller warned, things will turn ugly.

"If he doesn't agree, we're going to go nuts and make it more personal," Muller said.

E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com.

-------- russia / chechnya

Putin Warns Europe to Treat Russia as an Equal

April 9, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-germany-russia.html

WEIMAR, Germany - President Vladimir Putin, reminding Europeans of their energy dependence on Russia, warned the West Tuesday Russia could create obstacles if Moscow was not treated as an equal partner in future agreements.

``If Europe sees Russia as an alien type, then of course we could create obstacles on the path of expansion of these relations,'' Putin told a forum also attended by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Weimar.

``If Russia is, however, treated as an equal partner in long-term agreements, the country will guarantee the long-term delivery of energy supplies.''

Putin spoke shortly after arriving in Germany for summit talks with what he called Moscow's most trusted Western partner.

The Russian leader said Moscow wants to be regarded as an equal in a new NATO council under discussion as well as in evolving European Union and other international structures.

As an equal, Russia, rich in oil and gas, could help assure the stability of energy prices in Europe and thus have a stabilizing effect on the wider economy, Putin said.

``I want to emphasize that even in the most dramatic period of history, during the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia did not fail to fulfil its obligations in the field of energy,'' Putin told a Russian-German forum.

``Today Germany receives a great amount of its energy from Russia, a third of its gas, a quarter of its oil.''

Schroeder offered Putin strong backing before the two headed off for a traditional German meal, including blood sausage, suckling pig and baked apple.

``We are convinced that there will be no long-term peace and prosperity without Russia,'' Schroeder said while seated between Putin and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev co-chairs the Petersburg Dialogue, a forum set up to promote bilateral ties.

``We have a national interest in Russia as an equal partner,'' Schroeder said. ``We have no problem as far as the Russian leader's expectations.''

Schroeder also hailed growing Russian-German economic ties. ''In particular, our economic relations have reached a dynamic in recent months and years that one thought was not possible,'' he said.

LIVELY CONVERSATION

Schroeder is hosting Putin in the former East Germany, where the Russian leader once worked as a KGB spy. Putin is hoping the summit will consolidate Moscow's ties with Europe ahead of a May meeting with U.S. President W. George Bush.

Putin, a fluent German speaker, engaged in lively conversation as he and Schroeder greeted ministers on arrival in the Marktplatz, the picturesque focal point of the historic town of Weimar.

The pair chatted with cheering crowds on the square ringed by 16th and 17th century buildings with painted facades and red-tiled roofs.

During their talks ending Wednesday afternoon, the German and Russian leaders are likely to share common ground in calling for a broad approach to tackle the Middle East crisis and expressing distaste for any U.S. strike against Iraq.

One site pointedly not on the agenda was a visit to nearby Buchenwald, the location of both a Nazi concentration camp and post-war Soviet detention camp. Officials there said plans for a brief stop were dropped.

-------- taiwan

Pentagon Talks Taiwan Military Aid

By Robert Burns
AP Military Writer
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21634-2002Apr9?language=printer

WASHINGTON -- The United States can help Taiwan as much by improving its military as it can by selling it new weapons, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Taiwanese defense officials at a closed-door conference.

"We are eager to help" Taiwan strengthen civilian control of its military, make more rational purchases of new weapons and improve coordination between its army, navy and air force, Wolfowitz said.

His remarks were delivered March 11 at a conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., organized by the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, whose chairman is a former defense secretary, Frank Carlucci. The speech was off-limits to reporters and the Pentagon refused to release a copy of Wolfowitz's remarks except in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The conference was especially sensitive for the Bush administration because it granted a U.S. visa to Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming to attend the session, a move that angered the Chinese government. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and opposes U.S.-Taiwan military ties.

In a sign of its anger over U.S. dealings with Taiwan, China refused a request by the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer based in Yokosuka, Japan, to make a port call this week at Hong Kong.

China also is expected to object to U.S. plans to send a delegation to Taiwan to present proposals for supplying the Taiwan navy with diesel-powered submarines, a sale first proposed by the Bush administration last April. The Pentagon is reviewing industry proposals for building the submarines, and spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said Tuesday that the meeting in Taiwan could happen by May.

The United States broke off relations with Taiwan in 1979 in order to establish official ties with the communist Chinese government, but it keeps an unofficial embassy on the island and is its biggest weapons supplier.

In the Capitol on Tuesday, House members announced creation of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, which quickly and quietly gathered 85 members - 46 Republicans, 38 Democrats and one independent.

"The message behind the formation of the Taiwan caucus," said co-founder Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is: "To those dictators who control the mainland: Keep your bloody hands off of Taiwan." The audience, including 14 members of Taiwan's legislative Yuan, heartily applauded.

In his speech, Wolfowitz repeated the standard U.S. statement that it opposes Taiwan independence but will do "whatever it takes" to help Taiwan defend itself. Wolfowitz's emphasis on improving the quality of Taiwan's military training, as well as the quality of its weaponry, reflects an administration belief that Taiwan faces a growing threat from China's military modernization.

"Taiwan needs reform in its defense establishment to meet the challenges of the 21st century," Wolfowitz said.

Wolfowitz cited the hundreds of shorter-range ballistic missiles that China has stationed across the Taiwan Strait.

"These missiles are clearly designed to project a threatening posture, and to try to intimidate the people and the democratically elected government of Taiwan - so far, I'm happy to say, without much success," he said.

Wolfowitz said the Pentagon also is watching closely the modernization of China's navy, which could eventually pose problems for Taiwan.

"Taiwan needs to remain vigilant, and it should commit to increasing professionalism of its military ranks, and increasing jointness among its services to keep pace with potential changes in the security situation in the strait," he said.

----

China slams U.S. vow to defend Taiwan

Tue Apr 9, 2002
By John Ruwitch
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020410/wl_asia_nm/asia_99221_2

BEIJING - China has accused the United States of rudely meddling in China's internal affairs after a top Pentagon official said Washington would do "whatever it takes" to help Taiwan defend itself.

"The comments of the senior U.S. defence official seriously violated the clear-cut promises laid out in the three joint communiques and moreover rudely interfered in China's internal political affairs," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference on Tuesday.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz made the comment in a closed-door speech last month that was made public on Monday, reiterating a pledge made by U.S. President George W. Bush in the early days of his presidency.

"As President Bush and others have said, the United States is committed to doing whatever it takes to help Taiwan defend herself," Wolfowitz told Taiwan's Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming in the United States in March.

Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland and refuses to renounce the use of force to achieve that goal.

Zhang said Wolfowitz's comment "had ulterior motives" and China firmly opposed it.

"The Taiwan problem is an internal issue of China's and no outside country has the right to interfere," she said.

Tang's visit to Florida drew fierce criticism from Beijing.

It was the first in a series of U.S. moves that have offended China since Bush visited Beijing in late February and added stress to sensitive relations between the world's most populous country and its most powerful.

Earlier this month, China was annoyed by a slip-up by Bush in which he referred to Taiwan as a country and as the "Republic of Taiwan", and voiced displeasure with U.S. support for Taiwan's bid to participate in the World Health Organisation as an observer.

A leaked Pentagon report that described U.S. contingency plans to aim nuclear weapons at China also drew fire last month.

CHINA SEEKING U.S. RESPECT

Premier Zhu Rongji, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and other senior leaders have urged the United States to respect its commitments to China since Bush's visit, which state media hailed at the time as bringing the two countries closer than ever.

Under the three joint communiques, Washington recognises Beijing as the sole legal government of China and pledges to reduce arms sales to Taiwan, but advocates a peaceful resolution of the issue.

Like almost all other countries, Washington has given Beijing, not Taipei, diplomatic recognition, but powerful forces in the U.S. Congress consistently urge the president to tip the balance away from communist China and more toward Taiwan.

Zhang said if the United States continues to sell weapons to Taiwan, improve U.S.-Taiwan ties and support the "separatist actions Taiwan independence forces" it would increase tension across the Taiwan Strait and ultimately hurt U.S. interests.

"Therefore, we once again urge the U.S. side to respect the sincere promises it made to the Chinese government and the Chinese people and stop the above erroneous actions in order to avoid causing new harm to Sino-U.S. relations," she said.

China says the Taiwan issue is at the core of relations with the United States.

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao is due to visit the United States at the end of April and the Foreign Ministry has said both sides were preparing for the trip, but declined to give details.

Analysts have said despite the latest U.S. moves, it was unlikely that Hu would cancel his trip.

Hu is expected to take over as head of the Communist Party when President Jiang Zemin steps down from the post later this year, and to assume the presidency next March.

----

U.S. plans meetings with Taiwan on submarine design

Tue Apr 9, 2002
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020409/wl_asia_nm/asia_99266_2

WASHINGTON - Shrugging off China's worries about U.S. policy towards Taiwan, the Defense Department on Tuesday said a Navy-led team will travel to Taiwan, possibly as early as next month, to present design and construction options for up to eight diesel-electric submarines.

The news came just after China protested that the United States was meddling in China's internal affairs and violating its promises when a top Pentagon official said Washington would do "whatever it takes" to help Taiwan defend itself.

But Pentagon spokesman Lt. Commander Jeff Davis said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz's remarks represented no change in U.S. policy, and several Sino-U.S. meetings were proceeding as planned.

At the same time, he said work was proceeding to carry out a huge arms sale package for Taiwan approved by President George W. Bush in April 2001, including the possible manufacture of diesel-powered submarines.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Tuesday that Wolfowitz "seriously violated the clear-cut promises laid out in the three joint communiques" in a closed-door speech made public on Monday.

"As President Bush and others have said, the United States is committed to doing whatever it takes to help Taiwan defend herself," Wolfowitz told Taiwan's Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming in the United States in March.

"There is nothing in the Wolfowitz remarks that's inconsistent with our policy," Davis said. "They have nothing to be upset about." He said Wolfowitz clearly stated that Washington did not support Taiwan independence, but also would not tolerate any use of force by China.

Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province that must be reunited with the mainland, possibly with the use of force.

Washington fears China's military buildup across the Taiwan Strait could tip the delicate power balance in Beijing's favor as early as 2005 and 2006, and has urged Taipei to speed up modernization of its forces.

Davis said senior Chinese and U.S. officials would meet as planned in Shanghai later this month for regular talks under the Sino-U.S. Military Maritime Consultative Agreement.

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao is also due to visit the United States at the end of April, he said.

NAVY TO VISIT TAIWAN IN NEAR FUTURE

Davis said Navy officials were reviewing proposals from U.S. and foreign companies to build up to eight diesel-powered submarines, a key part of the arms package for Taiwan, and planned to present the proposals to Taiwan in the near future.

Although no specific date had been set, the meeting could take place as early as next month, he said.

As of November 2001, the Pentagon had received 14 proposals from seven companies, including Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's No. 1 military shipbuilder, and rival General Dynamics Corp. to build the submarines, an order that could be worth as much as $6 billion.

The United States has not manufactured diesel submarines since the 1950s, when the Navy opted to rely exclusively on nuclear-fueled submarines.

Wolfowitz's comments and Tang's visit were the latest in a series of U.S. moves that have offended China since Bush visited Beijing in late February.

Earlier this month China was annoyed when Bush referred to Taiwan as a country and as the "Republic of Taiwan" and voiced displeasure with U.S. support for Taiwan's bid to participate in the World Health Organization as an observer.

A leaked Pentagon report that described U.S. contingency plans to aim nuclear weapons at China also drew fire.

On Tuesday Zhang said if the United States continues to sell weapons to Taiwan, improve U.S.-Taiwan ties and support the "separatist actions (of) Taiwan independence forces" it would increase tension across the Taiwan Strait and ultimately hurt U.S. interests.

-------- un

U.S. Vows to Veto New UN Plea for Israeli Pullout

April 9, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-un.html

UNITED NATIONS - The United States vowed Tuesday to veto an Arab-drafted U.N. resolution warning Israel to pull out of Palestinian cities, saying Secretary of State Colin Powell needed time to pursue his peace mission.

Having approved three Middle East resolutions in the past month, including two demanding a withdrawal of Israeli forces, ''the Security Council should get out of the business of producing documents,'' U.S. envoy James Cunningham said.

``The focus of activity is now where it should be, in the region, with Secretary Powell engaging in all his contacts,'' Cunningham told reporters.

While Cunningham hoped Arab nations would not press the issue at this time, ``we would veto this resolution if it was brought to a vote.''

He spoke shortly after Palestinian U.N. observer Nasser al-Kidwa predicted a council vote on the Arab draft on Wednesday, following a meeting in Madrid of the so-called Quartet of key peace envoys from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

``It is not that we are trying to pick a fight or be impatient. There is an open defiance on the Israeli side,'' al-Kidwa said at the close of a two-day Security Council public debate on the crisis.

The council has held private or public sessions on the Middle East on nine of the past 12 days. Closed consultations were again scheduled for Wednesday morning.

The White House said it was still pressing President Bush's demands that Israel withdraw ``without delay'' from Palestinian cities it entered to root out ``terrorist infrastructure'' blamed for a wave of suicide bombings.

'RESOLUTION FATIGUE'

But U.S. officials in New York, claiming ``resolution fatigue,'' said they wanted to give some breathing room to Powell, who would be in Madrid for the Quartet meeting.

Also expected in Madrid were Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, representing the 15-nation EU.

Under intense pressure from Bush and with Powell due in Israel later this week, the Israeli army withdrew from the West Bank towns of Qalqilya and Tulkarm.

But its 13-day-old offensive raged elsewhere in Palestinian areas, and there was no indication of a pullback from other towns and refugee camps seized after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 27 people in an Israeli hotel on March 27.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed the army offensive would continue after a Palestinian ambush killed 13 Israeli soldiers.

Syrian Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said he expected Arab nations to press for a vote Wednesday because Powell and Madrid were not the issue.

``The Arab group would prefer to have a resolution again as the situation is very grave,'' he told reporters. ``The point is very important because the Israelis are still in their place and are escalating.''

The draft resolution, introduced by Syria, calls for a ''third party'' presence on the ground to help both sides implement any agreements.

Israel and the United States, its closest political ally and main financial benefactor, have previously turned down an international monitoring force.

Israel also opposes a provision of the draft calling on it to ``fully and effectively respect'' the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the treatment of civilians in time of war, which among other things bars settlements on occupied territories.

Also irking Israel, the proposed measure makes no reference to Palestinian suicide bombings against Israeli targets.

-------- us

Pentagon to Review Troops, Needs

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Troop-Strength.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld won't try to expand the regular active-duty military until he is sure no one is being wasted on unnecessary jobs, the deputy defense secretary said Tuesday.

``Each of the services has come forward to Secretary Rumsfeld with proposals for increasing end-strength,'' Paul Wolfowitz told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Rumsfeld's view is that ``before we make that considerable investment and long-term commitment to increasing our force structure, let's make sure that in addition to having new requirements, there aren't old requirements that we could shed,'' Wolfowitz said.

Many lawmakers have encouraged Pentagon leaders to seek an increase the regular active-duty force to alleviate the burden on citizen-soldiers in the reserves and National Guard.

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., led the charge Tuesday.

``Given our current commitments -- such as Kosovo, Bosnia, homeland defense, Afghanistan, possibly future operations in other countries that need not be named -- (and) our extensive use of reserves, even before the war on global terrorism began, at what point will the Department of Defense consider a comprehensive increase in force structure?'' Bunning asked.

More than 83,000 reservists and guardsmen are on active duty for the federal government, the most since the Gulf War a decade ago. Governors have called up another 7,000 guardsmen to provide airport security.

The four military services leaders have said they need 51,400 more people: The Army, 40,000; Air Force, 6,000; Marines, 2,400; and Navy, 3,000. The current personnel caps are Army, 480,000; Air Force 358,800; Marines 172,600; and Navy, 376,000.

Wolfowitz said Rumsfeld wants to make sure that ``we have really looked, scrubbed, thoroughly to make sure that ... we stop doing things that we should have stopped doing a long time ago.'' Each service is now searching for ways to reduce personnel needs, he said.

For example, he said, Rumsfeld has long tried to cut forces in the Sinai.

In fact, the more than 800 U.S. troops in the Sinai today are, for the first time, entirely National Guard, not regular active-duty, said Army Maj. Tim Blair, a spokesman for the European Command.

The hearing focused on Pentagon moves to transform the military to meet 21st century challenges.

Wolfowitz said the $379 billion budget request for next year -- up $48 billion -- includes $21 billion for technology procurement and nearly $25 billion for other transformation efforts.

Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked Wolfowitz to provide, later, an exact definition of transformation and a list of what planned activities fit that definition.


-------- POLICE / PRISONERS

FBI Urged to Investigate Agents

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-FBI-Hunting-Spies.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Spies like Robert Hanssen typically volunteer instead of waiting to be recruited by foreigners, a former FBI and CIA director said Tuesday.

To catch American turncoats, the FBI needs to check its agents better and increase the number of its own spies in other countries, William Webster told a Senate committee. ``Almost every spy that we have found, both in the CIA and the FBI, has been found with the aid of recruited sources of our own in other hostile intelligence agencies,'' he said.

Webster led a commission investigating the FBI's security procedures after the arrest of Hanssen, who has pleaded guilty to selling secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia over two decades in exchange for $1.4 million.

Webster, who released his committee's report on FBI security last week, also told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the FBI needs to work harder to weed out agents who might spy against America.

In many cases, financial probes and background checks of longtime agents become less-than-serious activities because of the particular agent's position or friendships, Webster said.

For example, Hanssen never took a polygraph, and was never subjected to a serious background check or financial examination, Webster said.

Webster said that in almost every case, Americans approach other foreign agencies to ask if they need a spy inside the U.S. government. ``We have to know when someone is of that frame of mind before he has the chance to do damage,'' Webster said.

To do that, more through checks have to become common, the former intelligence chief said. ``We have to do things in the more sensitive areas of the FBI to be sure that people on board are still on board,'' he said.

Agents ``have to be willing for the trust that they've been given to accept some additional intrusions into their private lives,'' Webster added.

The Webster Commission's report is not being disputed by the FBI, said Kenneth Senser, head of the agency's new security division. Many of the suggestions in the report, like more frequent lie detector tests and an FBI security division, already have been implemented, he said.

None of the information gained from the 700 polygraph examinations has turned up a security breach as serious as Hanssen's, he said. But the tests have ``identified lesser security transgressions and other behavior that has resulted in referrals to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility for appropriate disciplinary considerations,'' Senser said.

He did not say what actions resulted from the referrals.

-------- death penalty

Report: '01 World Executions Doubled

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-UN-Death-Penalty.html

GENEVA (AP) -- The number of known executions around the world doubled last year, with China accounting for 80 percent of that total during its crackdown on crime, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

In its annual report on the death penalty, the human rights group said at least 3,048 people were executed in 31 countries last year.

That includes 2,468 executions in China alone. Between April and July 2001, China executed at least 1,781 people during its national ``strike hard'' campaign against crime.

``Many of those condemned to death could have been tortured to extract confessions. Condemned prisoners were often shackled and humiliated by being paraded in public,'' said Amnesty International, which opposes the death penalty.

Four countries -- China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States -- were responsible for 90 percent of the death sentences carried out in 2001, Amnesty International said.

The group released its report in Geneva, where it is backing European Union plans to introduce an anti-death penalty resolution to the 53-nation Human Rights Commission.

Although the meeting annually calls for a moratorium on the death penalty, it cannot force countries to comply.

Amnesty International said it was particularly concerned about the increasing use of the death penalty for nonviolent offenses, such as homosexuality in Saudi Arabia, drug trafficking in southeast Asia, adultery in Nigeria and Sudan, and corruption or theft in China.

``What these statistics highlight for us is that the death penalty is really used against those most defenseless in society,'' Amnesty International spokeswoman Judit Arenas said.

``Despite a huge amount of public pressure, despite clear legal rulings, despite evidence to prove that it is not a deterrent and despite evidence that innocent people are actually executed, countries pursue this.''

Amnesty International also said it was concerned that some countries without a death penalty, such as Canada, have extradited suspects without seeking assurances that the accused would not face death. Most European countries staunchly refuse to extradite any criminal suspect without such a guarantee.

However, Amnesty International said it was encouraged by a reduction in the number of people executed for offenses committed when they were minors.

Three such executions were carried out last year -- in the United States, Iran and Pakistan, Arenas said. There have been 15 such executions in the United States since 1990, the most in the world.

``I think there has been a consensus that the execution of those who committed crimes under the age of majority is something that is unacceptable,'' Arenas said.

--------

Amnesty: Executions Doubled in 2001, Led by China

April 9, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-rights-executions.html

LONDON - Governments across the globe shot, electrocuted and hanged more than 3,000 of their citizens last year, more than double the total executed in 2000, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

During 2001, at least 3,048 people were put to death in 31 countries, the sharp increase largely the result of a Chinese crack-down on crime which saw the world's most populous nation execute nearly 1,800 people in four months, Amnesty said.

The human rights group said in a statement many of those condemned to death could have been tortured to extract confessions, and the total number of executions could be far higher since many killings were deliberately kept secret.

``Many cases were in blatant violation of international standards on the application of the death penalty,'' Amnesty said, calling for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, sitting in Geneva, to establish a moratorium on all executions.

China executed a total of 2,468 people, more than all other countries put together, while Iran's 139 recorded executions probably fell short of the true number of people put to death, Amnesty said.

In oil-rich Saudi Arabia, 79 executions were reported along with a multitude of amputations and floggings, while in the United States 66 people lost their lives at the hands of the state, down from 85 the previous year.

``The figures for China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States accounted for 90 percent of all known executions in 2001,'' Amnesty said.

Chile abolished the death penalty in 2001 for peacetime offences and Turkey adopted constitutional amendments to limit its scope, but overall the practice does not seem to be on the wane -- Amnesty said over 5,000 people were sentenced to death during the year, compared to 3,058 in 2000.

-------- terrorism

Al - Qaida Suspect Charged of War

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-India-al-Qaida-Suspect.html

BOMBAY, India (AP) -- A suspected member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network was formally charged Tuesday with waging war against India, an offense punishable by death, and then freed on bail because of a technicality.

Indian police claim Mohammed Afroz, a pilot from the Bombay area, had confessed to being part of an al-Qaida plan to hijack a plane and crash it into the British Parliament. He also reportedly told investigators that he was planning to attack buildings in Australia and the Indian capital, New Delhi.

Bombay police and intelligence officers have visited Australia, Britain and the United States to verify claims made by the 26-year-old Afroz who had been detained since Oct. 2.

On Tuesday, Afroz told reporters that he had trained as a pilot abroad but refused to provide details. He wouldn't say if he was a member of al-Qaida or confirm whether he had confessed to police.

He was formally charged by the Bombay police with waging war against the government of India and conspiring to commit an offense against the state. The first charge carries a sentence of death or life imprisonment. The second charge is punishable by life imprisonment.

Although the charges do not allow for bail, a judge ordered Afroz freed on the equivalent of $2,000 bail because he had been held illegally for more than six months, his lawyer, Mobil Solkar, said.

By law, charges should have been filed against him within 90 days but that was not done. ``They committed a mistake,'' Solkar said.

Afroz was told to appear in court on April 24 to hear the charges against him. No date for a trial has been set.


-------- ENERGY AND OTHER

-------- alternative energy

Renewables the Core of "Intelligent Energy for Europe"

BRUSSELS, Belgium,
April 9, 2002
ENS
http://ens-news.com/ens/apr2002/2002L-04-09-01.html

Europe is betting its energy future on renewable energy sources and energy saving. Today, the European Commission proposed a new four year energy program "Intelligent Energy for Europe" covering the period 2003 to 2006. It will follow the current energy framework program, which is due to end on December 31.

With a budget of €215 million (US$189.4 million) the program implements the strategy outlined in a November 2000 policy paper on security of energy supply, founded on renewable energy sources and energy saving.

Today, 5.6 percent of Europe's energy supply is generated by renewable sources - wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. The aim is to increase this to 12 percent by the year 2010.

European Energy and Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio (Photo courtesy European Commission)

"In the field of energy, the EU must focus its efforts on specific action with a high added value, to enable us to manage our dependence on external energy and comply with our Kyoto commitments to combat climate change," says Loyola de Palacio, European Commission vice president responsible for energy and transport.

She is referring to the commitments of all European Union member countries under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by eight percent relative to 1990 levels in the five years between 2008 and 2012.

But if nothing is done, the projections of the European Environment Agency show that total emissions by the 15 EU member nations should increase between 1990 and 2010. Transport is the main offender; while it represents 28 percent of CO2 emissions, it will account for 90 percent of the increase in these emissions between 1990 and 2010.

A newly erected wind turbine at the Blyth Offshore Wind Farm, UK (Photo courtesy AMEC Wind)

Security of energy supply is a concern for Europe. If the EU takes no action it will be importing over 70 percent of its energy by 2030. "Such a level of dependence involves many economic, political and environmental risks," says de Palacia. "For instance, 95 percent of our oil needs will have to be imported. The transport sector in particular is almost entirely dependent on oil."

Global wind power may rise five-fold by 2010, with EU member country Germany a world leader, according to a new study by the German Wind Energy Institute (DEWI).

Researchers from DEWI have predicted wind energy capacity will rise from the current 25,000 megawatts (MW) to 120,000 MW by 2010. A megawatt is roughly enough electricity to power 1,000 typical homes.

Germany has been taking the lead in wind technology. Last year it added 2,659 MW of new turbines, bringing the total wind power generation to 8,750 MW, equivalent to 3.5 percent of Germany's total power consumption.

Wind turbines generate power in Copenhagen Harbor (Photo courtesy Richard Grosenbaugh)

Good for Germany, says the European Union, but de Palacio says it would be best for all EU nations to work together. "This ambitious new program will help us to take better coordinated and more coherent action," she said today.

Denmark, Britain and Ireland also have major wind farm projects in the works that will come on line within the new program's timeframe.

Currently, 45 percent of Europe's oil supply comes from the Middle East, while 40 percent of natural gas imports come from Russia. Nuclear power provides 35 percent of Europe's energy.

In its policy paper, the commission said that 94 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities comes from the energy sector. Carbon dioxide is the major greenhouse gas linked to global warming.

The Intelligent Energy for Europe action plan proposes a much higher level of European support for promoting renewable energies under the ALTENER program, and energy saving under the SAVE initiative, while at the same time bringing international action into line with these two priorities.

Vice President Palacio rides a bike on European Car Free Day (Photo courtesy Office of the Commissioner)

Community non-technological support activity in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources started in 1991 with the adoption of the SAVE program, followed in 1993 by the adoption of the ALTENER program.

The success of these two programs was noted by all the European Community institutions, and the activities have been continued in the multiannual framework program on actions in the energy sector and related measures, which was adopted in 1998 and expires on December 31 to be replaced by "Intelligent Energy for Europe."

In the near future, the Commission proposes to introduce a new raft of measures on the energy aspects of transport in line with the new guidelines of the common transport policy.

----

Global wind power market seen up 16 pct/yr to 2006

REUTERS DENMARK:
April 9, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15389/story.htm

COPENHAGEN - The global wind power market is expected to grow by an average of 16 percent over the coming five years, independent Danish windpower consultancy BTM said in an annual industry survey yesterday.

Though still accounting for less than one percent of global energy supply, wind power is seen the fastest growing energy source as nations look for ways to cut down green house gas emissions, believed to cause global warming.

"Sales volume at the international wind power market over the next five years is estimated at 320 billion crowns ($37.8 billion)," BTM said.

Of this amount, wind turbines are expected to account for 75-80 percent.

By the end of 2006, global wind power capacity will have reached 80,000 megawatt in total, BTM said.

In 2001 global wind power installations increased by 52 percent to 6,800 megawatt, bringing the total number of windpower capacity to 24,900 megawatt, or one and a half times Denmark's electricity demand.

Western Europe, which so far has been the driving force for the wind power industry, was seen decreasing its share of total capacity over the coming five years to 68 percent from 72 percent.

The United States was seen growing slightly faster than the world market and also Asia, Australia and the former Soviet Union will pick up.

The world's five biggest wind turbine makers accounted for 75 percent of the total market last year.

Danish Vestas Wind Systems increased its share to 24 percent from 18 percent the year before, while Germany's privately owned Enercon's share grew one percentage point to 15 percent. Danish NEG Micon came in third with 13 percent, marginally down from 2000.

The wind power unit in bankrupt energy trader Enron, Enron Wind, which has been sold to General Electric, doubled its market share to almost 13 percent from six percent.

Spanish Gamesa Eolica, part of Gamesa group and the world's No. 5 wind turbine maker, lost ground as its share declined by four percentage points to 10 percent.

-------- environment

Dwindling water supplies the world's biggest challenge

Story by Michael Byrnes
REUTERS AUSTRALIA:
April 9, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15386/story.htm

SYDNEY - A lack of clean water will be the biggest issue facing the world in the next 50 years and governments and business are failing to face up to the challenge, a senior Australian researcher said yesterday.

Graham Harris of the state-funded Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) told an environment conference in Melbourne that business needed to understand its dependence on the environment and create a new economic framework that focused on longer-term returns.

"Even if human populations were to level off in the next 50 years, we will require double the present supply of energy, materials and water. Water is the big issue for the next 50 years," Harris said in a prepared speech.

"The vast majority of the world's people already have only limited access to clean water, basic shelter and adequate food, and the situation is not going to get any better. Without water, food, shelter and compassion, we are all lost."

Harris told delegates at the ENVIRO 2002 conference that the Australian government's actions, for instance, "fail to reflect the urgency... We talk too much and act too slowly".

The conference followed another in Melbourne last week that focused on the impact cities have on the ecosystem with more than 50 percent of the world's population living in urban areas.

At the end of that earlier meeting, around 40 environmental experts from around the world called on governments to control urban water use as a key part of creating "sustainable cities".

GREEN CITIES NOT SO GREEN

"A lot of people think 'if I've got lots of green parks and gardens, that's fantastic'," said Harry Blutstein, director of sustainable development for the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) of the Australian state of Victoria.

"But hang on. They're using enormous amounts of water, often not recycled water. Perhaps an Australian city has to look a bit browner during its summer," he told Reuters yesterday.

The meeting issued its final statement yesterday.

Convened by EPA Victoria for the U.N. Environment Programme, its findings will contribute to a World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg later this year.

For cities to become sustainable, they had to be treated as ecosystems, the experts said.

This required much more recycling and reuse of water rather than simply spending large sums on dams.

It also meant new housing developments should incorporate stormwater tanks, so that city people would drink their own roofwater, as occurs in the Australian bush, Blutstein said.

The inefficient design of high-rise buildings, which failed to take into account the environment, was also costly.

Studies showed that the productivity of people could be increased by 15 percent or more by providing natural light, natural ventilation and other inputs from nature.

Malaysian architect Ken Yeang, for instance, was building high rises with windows that open and with gardens throughout the structure to filter the air.

"We're used to having a totally sterile environment in which the temperature doesn't vary within a degree. There's no breezes. This is not a natural environment," Blutstein said.

The meeting included environmental officials and experts from Australia, the Netherlands, Malaysia, India, United States, Canada, South Africa, the Philippines, Germany, Vietnam, Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Japan.

----

GE files 'good faith offer' with EPA for plan to clean up Hudson River

Tuesday, April 09, 2002
By Shannon McCaffrey,
Associated Press
http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/04/04092002/ap_46881.asp

WASHINGTON - General Electric Co. met Monday's deadline to file a "good faith offer" with the federal government on the cleanup of tons of toxic PCBs from the Hudson River, avoiding a potentially huge fine.

GE spokesman Mark Behan declined to discuss specifics of the offer, which could simply be a promise to do the dredging work or a far more detailed plan for carrying out one of the nation's largest environmental cleanups.

Had GE missed the deadline, the company could have been hit with fines up to three times the cleanup's estimated $500 million price tag and forfeited the opportunity to help craft the cleanup proposal with the Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA spokesman David Kluesner called the filing "concrete evidence that they do intend to negotiate and play a constructive part in this process."

While some companies involved in Superfund cleanups have submitted draft work plans in their offers, Kluesner said he did not expect that level of detail in a project this size.

Ned Sullivan, president of the environmental group Scenic Hudson, said GE's filing is a positive sign, but he remained skeptical absent any details about the offer. "I'm hopeful that this will not be some watered-down compromise that leaves a significant amount of PCBs still in the river," he said.

GE dumped 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the river from its plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, N.Y., about 40 miles north of Albany, before the federal government banned the substance in 1977. PCBs, which EPA classifies as a probable carcinogen, were used as an insulating material.

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman in February ordered the dredging of a 40-mile stretch of the river, capping a decades-long struggle over the cleanup.

GE spent millions of dollars on a public relations and lobbying campaign aimed at avoiding the cleanup. The company said the river ecosystem has improved over time and argued dredging could stir up toxins and place them into the moving river water, spreading the problem.

The EPA's cleanup plan calls for dredging 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment - enough to fill about 40 football fields 30 feet deep - to remove 150,000 pounds of PCBs. The design stage to work out just the engineering details is expected to take three years.

Now that GE has filed the good faith offer, EPA and the company will take a minimum of 60 days to negotiate a legally binding consent decree, which is expected to outline many details of the cleanup. That decree must be signed by both parties and then be subjected to a 30-day public comment period.

GE still has a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court challenging the constitutionality of the federal Superfund law under which the cleanup was ordered.

Shares of GE were down 24 cents to close at $36.86 in trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, but gained 3 cents in extended trading.

-------- genetics

Public Opposes Human Cloning

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Cloning-Poll-Glance.html

The public overwhelmingly opposes scientific experimentation on the cloning of human beings, says a new poll that also suggests public opinion is mixed on stem cell research.

Nearly 4 out of 5 people opposed cloning, while one-third of those polled were against federal funding of stem cell research, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Stem cells are the basic building blocks of the body from which other organs and other cells develop. Public attitudes toward stem cell research can be difficult to measure because the questions often don't distinguish between a range of complex issues, such as whether the stem cells are taken from cloned embryos or from adults.

The poll of 2,002 adults was taken Feb. 25-March 10 and has an error margin of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The poll found:

--People asked whether they favor or oppose scientific experimentation on cloning human beings oppose it by a margin of 77 percent to 17 percent. Most said they oppose it because it is morally wrong.

--They leaned toward supporting federal funding of stem cell research by a 43-35 margin, though that has dropped from a 55-29 margin in August.

--Two-thirds of opponents of stem cell research said they can't imagine changing their minds on the issue, while those who support it were less certain.

--Those who support federal funding were most influenced by media reports, while those opposed were most influenced by their religious beliefs.

-------- health

Chocolate Laced Cattle Feed Can Kill Birds

April 9, 2002
ENS
http://ens-news.com/ens/apr2002/2002L-04-09-09.html#anchor9

WASHINGTON, DC, A feed supplement used by dairy farmers can be fatal to wildlife, warns the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

USFWS special agent in charge Thomas Healy said the discovery was made when a dairy farmer alerted Vermont state game wardens to a sudden die off of several ring billed gulls at his farm. The cause was suspected to be the ingestion of chocolate, a supplement added to ground bread fed to dairy cows.

The gull carcasses and samples of the feed were sent to the USFWS National Forensic Laboratory, where analysis revealed that the birds had died from thiobromine and caffeine toxicity, as a result of eating chocolate, Healy said. Chocolate can also be toxic to some mammals, including dogs, foxes and badgers.

Federal and state authorities are requesting that individuals using this type of feed supplement make every effort to prevent birds from gaining access to the supplement during storage or while feeding livestock. A screen or enclosure should be used to prevent wildlife from accessing the feed, according to Healy.

Under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, killing birds protected under the Act is a criminal violation, whether done intentionally or unintentionally, unless the USFWS issues a permit to do so, Healy explained.

To report similar incidents of poisoned wildlife, or for further information, contact the USFWS in Essex Junction, Vermont, Phone: 802-879-1859

-------- human rights

JENIN
Palestinians' Plight in Battered Refugee Camp Brings Warning

New York Times
April 9, 2002
By DAVID ROHDE
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/09/international/middleeast/09JENI.html

JERUSALEM - International aid workers and a leading Israeli civil rights group issued warnings tonight of a looming crisis for people in the isolated Jenin refugee camp, a densely populated one-square-mile warren of 10,000 inhabitants that has been the site of this week's fiercest fighting between Israelis and Palestinians.

Two hundred women and children suffering from dehydration emerged from the camp today, aid workers said. Food, water, electricity and ambulances have been blocked from the area for five days, Palestinian officials said.

An Israeli human rights group said that Israeli forces have demolished Palestinian homes, including several with people still inside them, though that could not be verified.

Israeli military officials said missile attacks and bulldozers had destroyed homes from which Palestinian gunmen had fired on them, but they said that megaphones had been used to warn civilians.

Israeli officials said they have repeatedly asked surrounded Palestinian gunmen to lay down their arms and offered civilians opportunities to leave. Neither side's claims could be verified. Israeli forces have blocked all access to the camp, including to aid workers, for five days.

The Israeli officials contended that the responsibility lies with die-hard Palestinian fighters who have put up what an Israeli military official at the scene called "an incredible amount of resistance."

The fierce fighting in Jenin appears to have taken the operation's highest toll, leaving 9 Israeli soldiers and 50 to 100 Palestinian fighters dead.

Palestinian civilians interviewed by telephone described eerily empty streets, gunfire all around and Apache attack helicopters continuously hovering overhead. "Since 7 a.m., I have been counting about 40 rockets being shot on refugee camps," said Najeh Jarrar, a 60-year-old college professor who said he was cowering with his wife and child between their bathroom and kitchen. "We don't know where the bullets will fall."

In a rare example of public criticism, a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross demanded that Israeli forces allow aid convoys access to the area. "The wounded can't be tended to, the dead can't be brought out of the camp," said Stefan Ziegler, a Red Cross official who was able to reach the outskirts of the camp today. "The water has run out."

At least a half-dozen bodies have been buried in the yard of the Jenin government hospital, which sits just outside the camp, aid workers said.

In a telephone interview tonight Dr. Muhammad Abughali, the hospital's director, began shouting when an Israel rocket landed nearby. "Oh my God, did you hear that?" he said breathlessly as the sound of an explosion echoed over the line. "This is a missile! This is a missile!"

Dr. Abughali said his staff had given 200 hungry and thirsty women and children milk and food after they left the camp today. He said the bombing seemed to have slowed this afternoon, but parts of the camp have been heavily damaged.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, a leading civil rights group, issued a statement last night accusing the army of "severe human rights violations" in Jenin. Tally Gur, spokeswoman for the association, said they have received reliable reports of houses being demolished with people inside them. "We know that it has happened several times, not just once," she said.

--------

Zemin Faces Pressure Over Human Rights

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Germany-China.html

BERLIN (AP) -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin faced pressure over his country's human rights record Tuesday as he held talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other German leaders here on issues from economic relations to cultural exchanges between the two countries.

With human rights activists holding demonstrations across the German capital, Schroeder's government presented the Chinese delegation with a list of prisoners in China prepared by Amnesty International, German officials said on condition of anonymity.

President Johannes Rau also raised human rights during his meeting with Jiang, Rau's office said.

Chinese officials said Jiang had pledged China's commitment to universal human rights and a push to improve the situation in China. There are ``tireless efforts'' to improve human rights there, said Kong Quan, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The leaders themselves held no news conference after their closed door talks.

German human rights groups and left-wing lawmakers have pressed Schroeder not sweep the issue of human rights aside in favor of improving business links with China. Protesters held scattered small demonstrations against torture, the death penalty and discrimination against minorities in China in Berlin Tuesday.

Hours before Jiang's arrival Monday, about 250 supporters of the Falun Gong meditation sect, which is banned in China, demonstrated in midtown Berlin, accusing China of ``state terror'' against the group.

German officials insist the goal of better human rights is also served by supporting economic and political reform in China.

Germany is China's leading European trade partner and its largest investor. Jiang's five-day visit includes a stop at Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg, where the Chinese leader is due to sign a deal extending the automaker's joint venture in China.

On Tuesday, officials signed two agreements designed to deepen cultural and scientific exchanges, including the building of a Chines cultural institute in Berlin. The two countries are also to mutually recognize academic qualifications.

--------

U.S. Team to Start Slavery Probe in Sudan

April 9, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-rights-sudan-slavery.html

CAIRO - A U.S.-led team was due to arrive in Sudan Tuesday to investigate slavery and thousands of abductions fueled by civil war in Africa's largest country, a U.S. diplomat said.

``The commission on slavery, abductions and forced servitude arrives in Khartoum Tuesday night,'' Raymond Brown, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, told Reuters in a written reply to questions.

The visit, the first of its kind, was agreed late last year between U.S. envoy John Danforth, Khartoum and rebels as part of renewed U.S. efforts to help end Sudan's 19-year-old civil war.

While all parties agree that abductions between tribes exist -- often fueled by economic hardship or power struggles -- there is no agreement on numbers or the existence of slavery.

The UN children's fund UNICEF said tribal leaders estimate some 14,000 people were abducted between 1986 and 1998, although many would have escaped or been freed by now.

Christian Solidarity International (CSI), a Swiss-based group which has spearheaded a controversial campaign to buy back slaves, says community leaders have put the number of existing slaves at more than 200,000.

Sudan's government, rights groups and diplomats say they hope the international team's report will paint as accurate and balanced a picture as possible and help stamp out the practice.

``Any thorough investigation of this nature by reputable figures led by the Americans could play a big role in getting the facts on the table,'' said Thomas Ekvall, the Sudan representative of UNICEF, which has helped retrieve hundreds of abductees.

He said a balanced report could help put pressure on the government to deal with the issues more seriously.

U.S. SPOTLIGHT

``Danforth gave the whole effort to eliminate abductions a major boost,'' one international aid worker said. ``The huge American spotlight is allowing aid groups to make progress.''

Abductions between tribes, particularly in the south, have taken place for generations, but rights groups and officials agree the practice has been exacerbated by the war.

Some analysts say the abductions, which they say are followed by forced labor, amount to slavery. Many also accuse the government of doing too little to stop the practice, or even allowing it to flourish in areas under its control.

The government denies the charges, and says it has worked hard to eliminate the practice, not least by setting up a Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWC), which has the right to put people on trial who are suspected of involvement in the illegal act.

Analysts say in some cases, kidnappers marry or adopt those who were abducted, making the situation less transparent.

CSI says it has helped free more than 60,000 people by ''redeeming'' them for about $33, the price of two goats.

But analysts, rights and aid groups have disputed the numbers, saying many of those ``redeemed'' were probably never slaves. They also criticize the policy, which they say could fuel abductions.

The U.S.-led team will initially spend about 10 days in Sudan, Brown said. A technical team will stay behind for about six weeks to follow up the investigation, before the full group returns to Sudan in mid-May to wrap up the report.

-------- imf / world bank

IMF Plays Carrot and Stick with Argentina

April 9, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-economy-argentina.html

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - The IMF played carrot and stick with Argentina on Tuesday, offering over $700 million if the provinces stop printing money in the form of bonds which economists fear threaten an inflationary spiral.

It was the first sign of progress in International Monetary Fund talks since the negotiators arrived April 1 and government officials said Argentina and its provinces promised to deliver a primary budget surplus after years of chronic overspending.

But the multilateral lender's offer is just enough to cover provincial fiscal deficits if they are cut by 60 percent, as demanded by the IMF, to 2 billion pesos ($714 million) from 5 billion pesos last year.

``The spirit of this is that (provinces) do not continue issuing bonds and in exchange they get financing from the IMF,'' Interior Minister Rodolfo Gabrielli said after meeting with IMF negotiating chief Anoop Singh.

Gabrielli added that Argentina would absorb ``in its own time'' the estimated 5 billion-pesos' worth in bonds issued by about 20 provinces -- equal to almost one in every two pesos in circulation which analysts have said could fuel an inflationary spiral if more is printed.

With inflation now officially expected to touch 45 percent this year, risking hyperinflation, President Eduardo Duhalde needs an aid announcement to boost confidence in his economic policies and help support a peso that has lost over 60 percent of its value this year, sparking a series of price increases.

``The IMF has the reserves, knows where the problems are and Argentina will have to play along because the alternatives are worse,'' Argentine Research consultancy analyst Rafael Ber said.

BETTER THAN NOTHING

The IMF talks are taking place in a country of 36 million people immersed in a climate of impending doom. A four-year slump has seen growing civil unrest, a near breakdown of state services and 27 people dead in December food riots.

The government, which has already passed a budget cutting federal spending by 14 percent this year, is fearful that more cuts will lead to a ``social explosion.'' One in two Argentines live in poverty on only a few dollars a day.

Still, Argentina and its provinces on Tuesday committed themselves before the IMF to deliver a primary budget surplus -- excluding debt interest payments -- equal to 1.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2002, or 3.51 billion pesos ($1.25 billion), a government source told Reuters.

Sources at the IMF, which is pressing for severe spending cuts unpopular among recession-hit Argentines, have said the bankrupt government may only get $5 billion in aid -- enough for the administration to meet its multilateral obligations.

``I doubt we will see more money than that,'' said Aldo Abram, economist at Exante consultancy.

``If the IMF finances the current economic situation it just prolongs the crisis,'' Abram added. ``The Fund wants a coherent and integral economic plan and that's not there right now.''

An ``economic subversion'' law used by judges to question local and foreign bankers in probes of alleged illegal capital flight and a bankruptcy law that allows debtors to walk away from obligations are among the IMF's list of reform demands.

``There was an agreement in principle to see ifcan pass reforms to the economic subversion and bankruptcy laws. They will try to pass them before the IMF mission ends its visit,'' a government official told reporters.

The market reacted cautiously to the latest developments in IMF talks with the leading MerVal stock index, up almost 40 percent this year after tumbling last year to long-time lows, ending virtually unchanged after five consecutive sessions of declines.

The peso closed slightly lower at 2.78/2.80to the U.S. dollar for large-scale transactions in the foreign exchange market, just weaker than Monday's close of 2.76/2.79.


-------- ACTIVISTS

10,000 march in New York to oppose war

by: Lauren Kelley
09-Apr-2002
Peace News
http://www.peacenews.info/news/article/58

New York City, North America: On 5 April, 10,000 demonstrators marched through New York City, from Times Square to the Israeli consulate, demanding an end to Israel's US-financed war against the Palestinians. The march brought to a close a week of massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations throughout the Middle East that have been supported by activists in many US cities as well. The march also launched an international anti-war campaign which will converge on the White House on 20 April.

Source: International A.N.S.W.E.R.

----

U.S. Campuses See Mideast Protests

April 9, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Mideast-Campus-Protests.html

Students who sympathize with Palestinians under siege from Israel rallied, marched and handed out fliers Tuesday on some of the nation's campuses.

While most events on the loosely organized day of student protest were modest and peaceful, some demonstrators were heckled.

A rally for the Palestinian cause drew about 1,000 supporters and spectators at the University of California, Berkeley, including pro-Israel demonstrators who shouted their disapproval while police kept watch.

After the rally, campus police arrested 79 pro-Palestinian protesters who stormed into a classroom building. Some students hung a Palestinian flag from a third-story window, while others marched in the hallways of the building, which houses classrooms for Middle Eastern studies.

Students for Justice in Palestine likened the current Mideast violence to the Holocaust -- only with the Palestinians as the victims. They also called for the university to divest any Israel-related investments.

``This really should be Holocaust prevention day,'' said Sarah Weir, a 23-year-old cognitive science major.

As speakers made their case during the rally, counter-demonstrators tried to drown them out crying ``Stop the suicide bombings!'' They also booed, cursed and chanted ``Shame!''

At the same time, a small knot of people in a tent nearby read aloud the names of people killed by the Nazis, part of a 24-hour vigil for Yom Hashoah, the Jewish Holocaust remembrance day.

``They are trying to subvert language used in the Holocaust,'' said Eddan Katz, 26, a third-year law student and Israeli-American. ``I hear no one in Israel politics today talking about the eradication of all Palestinians.''

At the University of Michigan, about 50 protesters, some with arms tied and mouths gagged, paraded mutely through the Ann Arbor campus.

A group called Students Allied for Freedom and Equality said in a statement their demonstration was ``to draw attention to the brutal tactics used by the state of Israel in its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.''

One young man, clad only in underwear, bore a sign saying he was representing the ``Palestinians who were asked to strip naked by the Israeli Army, lie on their stomachs and then taken on to an unknown location.''

At Ohio State University, about 60 protesters lined a campus sidewalk that faces a busy Columbus thoroughfare and chanted: ``Stop the hate. Stop the crime. Help save Palestine.'' Some also wore yellow armbands in memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.

Ora Wise, 21, a junior and rally organizer, was born in Jerusalem and raised to support Israel by her American parents but decries Israel's current policies, she said.

``I've always been taught my Jewish heritage is one of fighting for social justice,'' Wise said. ``It's abhorrent to me, my people would be enacting such brutality, such atrocities, on the Palestinian people.''

At one point, a van passed and a young man leaned out a window to shout: ``Go, Israel! Go!''

At Columbia University in New York, several members of Students for Justice in Palestine manned a card table handing out informational fliers.

``The issue is enormously complex. It's not an issue you can categorically oppose or support,'' said Nadim El Gabanni, a 21-year-old junior who holds dual citizenship in Egypt and Canada.

At the University of Minnesota, about 75 people turned out to demonstrate. One was Hussan Mahmoud, a 28-year-old graduate engineering student from Egypt.

``I just hope this makes a difference,'' Mahmoud said, ``but I don't see how it will. You can have all your Bill of Rights and freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but it doesn't make a difference if the leaders don't want to make it happen.''

--------

Turkish protesters decry Israeli ties

April 9, 2002
By Peter Sisler
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020409-90538001.htm

KONYA, Turkey - Large pro-Palestinian street demonstrations and the drumbeat of a news media harshly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have placed Turkey's strategic ties with Israel under massive strain as Ankara seeks to quietly retain military and intelligence contact with Tel Aviv.

A demonstration at Konya's 13th-century Iplikci Mosque was one of several held in Turkish cities over the weekend as thousands of people vented their anger against Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

But the demonstrators were equally outraged at their own government for maintaining close military ties with Israel when its army is moving against fellow Muslims.

"It is an outrage that we have these connections with Israel," said Murat Yildirim, a graduate student in engineering who held a placard equating Mr. Sharon with Adolph Hitler.

"We should be standing alongside our Muslim brothers, but how can we do that when our government signs contracts with Sharon?" Mr. Yildirim said.

He referred to the approval last month of a $668 million contract given to Israel Military Industries to upgrade 170 of Turkey's U.S.-made M-60 A-1 battle tanks.

Opposition politicians and influential journalists have called for the contract to be abrogated since Israel's incursion into the West Bank and detention of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The Israeli-Turkish relationship began as a strategic move by Ankara to squeeze Syria into halting its support for the Kurdish PKK separatist guerrilla group.

That strategy bore fruit when Damascus expelled PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was later captured in 1999 by Turkish operatives, reportedly with support from Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.

The military leadership and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said they have no intentions of canceling the tank contract, which was negotiated over the past 18 months.

"We attach great importance to our relations with Israel," Mr. Ecevit said on Friday after he was forced to backtrack on a comment that the Israelis were committing "genocide" against the Palestinians.

The Turkish dilemma comes amid continuing protests throughout the Islamic world against Israel.

In Kuwait yesterday, thousands took to the streets in the biggest pro-Palestinian rally there since the Gulf war.

In Jordan, police clashed with protesters, and King Abdullah II said he would tolerate no disunity in his country.

Palestinians form the majority of Jordan's population and are becoming harder to placate.

Jordanian police fired tear gas at thousands of protesting Palestinians in the second day of clashes at Beqaa, a refugee camp on the outskirts of Amman, Reuters news agency reported.

King Abdullah told Jordanians in a televised address he would deal with any potential threats to the country's stability arising from such protests.

"The Jordanians, people and institutions, are angry at what is happening in Palestinian land. But the stability and national unity of Jordan is a red line," the monarch said in a televised speech to the Cabinet.

In 1970, Jordan's late King Hussein won a civil war and drove the Palestinian fighting core out of Jordan.

Protesters marching to Kuwait's parliament for a rally, which witnesses said numbered well over 10,000, called on Arab leaders to support the Palestinians, Reuters also reported.

-------

2002 NPT PrepCom Statements Available Online

April 9, 2002
From: Emily Schroeder <emily@reachingcriticalwill.org>

For all official statements given by Party States to the NPT PrepCom, see the BASIC website at:

http://www.basicint.org/nuclear/prepcom2002/nuk_02prepcom_official.htm

Which can be accessed through the Reaching Critical Will NPT page under "Official Documents", at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/npt/nptindex.html

Best wishes,
Emily Schroeder

----

ENVIROVIDEO TV PROGRAMS WITH HARVEY WASSERMAN ON NUCLEAR POWER AVAILABLE FOR MEDIA ACTIVISTS AND GROUP SCREENINGS

From: envirovideo@earthlink.net
Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 2:20 PM

EnviroVideo, the New York-based TV production company, is making two just-completed TV programs featuring long-time opponent of atomic power, Harvey Wasserman, available for free to media activists to bring to their cable TV station to be aired on their public access channel and to associations for group showings.

In "Harvey Wasserman: Challenging Nuclear Power," Wasserman is interviewed by Karl Grossman, an investigative reporter who himself has long chronicled the dangers of atomic power, on the plan by the Bush Cheney administration to "revive" nuclear power. Wasserman is a senior advisor to both Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. He is the author of such books as "Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America's Experience With Atomic Radiation" and " The Last Energy War: The Battle Over Utility Deregulation

Grossman is the author of books including "Power Crazy" and "Cover Up: What You ARE NOT Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power" and the host, writer and narrator of numerous EnviroVideo programs on atomic energy.

In "Harvey Wasserman: Challenging Nuclear Power," Wasserman declares that "the idea of reviving nuclear power as put forward by George Bush and Dick Cheney could only be termed patently insane." Wasserman declares: "We have had a half century of experience with atomic energy. It is a blatant failure. It is actually the most expensive failure in technological history." And Wasserman, in the 29-minute interview program, stresses not only the dangers of nuclear power but details the availability of safe, clean, renewable energy technologies wind, solar, hydrogen, geothermal among many others here today which, with energy efficiency, could provide for energy needs without the awesome threat of atomic energy.

The second new EnviroVideo program also available for free is "300,000 Reasons to Close Indian Point," a one-hour presentation by Wasserman made in Garrison, New York, near the Indian Point reactors. In the presentation, Wasserman emphasizes that one of the jets that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11 passed just moments before over the Indian Point nuclear plant complex and if that plane had crashed into Indian Point, a nuclear catastrophe would have resulted. Some 300,000 people, at least, would have died right away and millions would have lost their lives from the spread of radioactive poisons in the most populated area of the United States.

The continuing threat of terrorist attack is one of the main reasons, declares Wasserman, that atomic power plants must be shut down and safe energy technologies now "on the shelf" and widely available be must be implemented.

"Harvey Wasserman: Challenging Nuclear Power" is among 150 episodes of Enviro Close-Up hosted by Grossman who is also a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York. Through informative discussion Enviro Close-Up explores issues such as global warming; safe, clean, renewable energy; nuclear weapons proliferation; environmental and social justice; environmental pollution and its effect on human health; and biodiversity.

Enviro Close-Up programs include in-depth interviews with leading authors, activists, experts and scientists such as Ross Gelbspan, author of "The Heat is On," Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility; Nobel Laureate Dr. George Wald; Nobel Laureate Dr. Henry Kendall, former Chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Dr. Victor Sidel, founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; Peggy Shepard, director of West Harlem Environmental Action, and physicists and authors Michio Kaku, Fritjof Capra, and Vandana Shiva.

EnviroVideo programs are produced by Joan Flynn and directed by Emmy Award-winner Steve Jambeck. Enviro Close-Up is designed to empower people and motivate them to action by providing crucial information that is not found anywhere else on television.

To get a free copy of "Harvey Wasserman: Challenging Nuclear Power" and/or "300,000 Reasons to Close Indian Point" for your association for a group showing, email envirovideo@earthlink.net or call Joan Flynn at 1-800-ECO-TV46. Review copies for press representatives are also available.

To order EnviroVideo programs, visit www.envirovideo.com or call 1-800-ECO-TV46.

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KILL SENATE BILL 517: A WINDFALL FOR NUCLEAR POWER

Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002
From: Michael Mariotte <nirsnet@nirs.org>

ALERT! Organize your Communities and Tell your Senators
Senate Energy Bill S 517 IS FATALLY FLAWED

S 517 provides nuclear welfare on a scale we have never seen before, amounting to protectionism in favor of nuclear energy and against sorely needed renewable energy. S 517 ignores national and energy security in favor of big money handouts to nuclear power.

S 517:

-Uses public money to test and build, by 2010, a "new" generation of dangerous nuclear power reactors on federal land, including (but not limited to) DOE sites and labs.

-Establishes a new government program which uses the public's money to promote more atomic reactors.

-Streamlines nuclear reactor approval.

-Discourages small power generators and renewable energy and funds nuclear power to the point of nationalizing it.

-S 517 uses taxpayer money to fulfill the nuclear industry's dream of deploying 50,000 MWe of new nuclear generation by 2020. That's 50-1,000 megawatt reactors or about 420 modular reactors.

-"Deploys" more nuclear power reactors which are officially recognized terrorist targets.

-Treats highly radioactive waste as a commodity or resource, threatening national security.

-Gives the nuclear power companies free liability insurance and exemption from full catastrophic accident liability by renewing the Price Anderson Act subsidies and extending them to new nuclear reactors.

-Seeks to greenwash nuclear power by linking it to clean car technology and hydrogen fuel production.

-Repeals the Public Utility Holding Company Act, PUHCA (the full force of which could have prevented the ENRON debacle) and compromises the safety of nuclear reactors.

Key nuclear power points: In general, every dollar spent on nuclear power assures that this country will lack true energy independence and security.

1) Subsidizing nuclear power hurts the energy market and renewable energy which, at the least, should have an equivalent playing field. Equivalency can be achieved by removal of all nuclear power subsidies and recognition of its true costs.

2) Reliance on nuclear energy ensures that we will not get a decentralized energy grid into which ALL producers, businesses and individuals, can supply power. This is where true energy security rests.

3) Further, this bill threatens much of the public input provisions we need to participate in our own energy future, especially concerning nuclear power.

4) Nuclear power is a threat to national, environmental, and public security. Period. It was before September 11. It is more so now.

-Organize your communities: pull out all the stops to kill this bill during the next week or two.

Contact your Senators: for email and faxes www.senate.gov or 202-224-3121 for phone calls. Tell them they must oppose S 517. Many Democrats want to kill the bill, but are looking for "cover" to do it-Let's give it to them.

Public Citizen already issued a letter opposing S 517 which many groups have signed. If you are a member of a large national organization, make sure they are actively opposing S 517 as well.

For more information contact Cindy at NIRS; 202-328-0002. Thank you.


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