Subject: HEADLINES September 24 - 30, 1995 Due to a mistake and the change in persons, who do the headlines, these headlines from end of august are sent out lately. (Aug. 24) Reuter is reporting that Russia is seeking to end a deadlock over requests from 35 countries who wish to join the UN Conference on Disarmament. The United States has resisted a vote to allow new members since the time when Iraq made a request in February 1993. Member nations are permitted access to restricted documents and are permitted to attend closed-door meetings for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (Aug. 24) Reuter is reporting that French nuclear experts are meeting with European Union nuclear experts to give information evidence that the nuclear tests are safe. France says the background radiation at Mururoa is lower than the level in Paris. (Aug. 24) Reuter is reporting that a French court has acquitted 15 anti-nuclear protestors for disrupting a Bastille Day military parade. About 100 anti-nuclear demonstrators outside the court during the trial and handed out pamphlets. (Aug. 24) Reuter is reporting that Australia and Japan are considering a joint resolution in the United Nations protesting nuclear testing. (Aug. 25) Reuter is reporting that Iraq turned over to UN officials materials that could be used to manufacture components for a nuclear weapons program. The materials were believed to be high-quality steel parts suitable for making a missile or a centrifuge system for enriching uranium, the key to building a nuclear bomb. (Aug. 25) Reuter is reporting that Argentina says the United States removed it from the list of countries to which civilian nuclear exports are restricted. The announcement comes just over a week after top Syrian officials visited Argentine nuclear sites and discussed the possible purchase of a small reactor. Argentina says it will only sell to Syria if it progresses in peace talks with Israel and if the sale does not endanger the Middle Eastern peace process. (Aug. 25) Reuter is reporting that the French Institute for Nuclear Protection and Safety claims that radioactivity lingering in French Polynesia from nuclear tests was only one third of that remaining in mainland France from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But, the report excluded the Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls where testing takes place. (Aug. 25) Reuter is reporting that according to the French Naval commander, France will conduct a nuclear test even if anti-nuclear protest boats are inside the exclusion zone around Mururoa Atoll or inside the atoll's lagoon itself. Vice-Admiral Philippe Euverte conceded he might have trouble controlling inflatable zodiac boats carrying protesters. "The problem with the zodiacs is if they put them at sea during night time and outside the 12 miles we cannot keep control, we cannot keep them in sight, and i t means there is no way we can catch them when they try to enter," he said. Greenpeace said it would use a helicopter in its protest. (Aug. 26) Reuter is reporting that the Belgian city of Ghent has cancelled the planned visit of a French naval vessel to protest France's decision to resume nuclear testing. (Aug. 26) Reuter is reporting that Japanese anti-nuclear groups have collected 452,672 protest signatures including 158 from parliament as well as prominent writers and film directors. (Aug. 27) Reuter is reporting that Vietnam plans to build a nuclear power plant starting in 2003. The plant will cost $2 billion to $3.3 billion and will be completed between 2012 and 2015, according to a proposal to the government by a group of officials and academics aided by South Korean and Japanese organizations. The team recommended the 600 to 1,000 megawatt plant be built in south-central Vietnam. (Aug. 27) Reuter is reporting that about 13 anti-nuclear protesters chained themselves to the French and Chinese embassies in Tel Aviv Sunday. (Aug. 28) Reuter is reporting that India and Pakistan appear willing to attend a 5-nation conference (India, Pakistan and China; Russia and US as guarantors and mediators) to talk about eliminating nuclear weapons from South Asia. (Aug. 28) Reuter is reporting that Japan is considering freezing a large part of its grant aid to China to protest Beijing's nuclear tests. But the low-interest yen loans, which make up the bulk of Japan's financial aid to China, should be untouched. (Aug. 28) Reuter is reporting that Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating thinks France is ignoring real threats to its security. Decaying nuclear reactors in the former Soviet Union and the spread of nuclear weapons to countries such as Pakistan and Iraq posed greater dangers to French security than any direct military threat, Keating told. He said also that Australia will make his protest as fierce with the Chinese as they have with the French (Aug. 28) Reuter is reporting that the Philippines' most influential Roman Catholic leader on Monday slammed France's plan to resume nuclear testing in the Pacific as "galling" and said it "smacks of colonialism". (Aug. 28) Reuter is reporting that an Australian university student was sentenced to three years in jail for firebombing the honorary French consulate in Perth in June over France's decision to resume nuclear tests. (Aug. 28) Reuter is reporting that Scientists opposed to French nuclear weapons tests accused President Jacques Chirac of lying about their adverse impact on the South Pacific environment. Michele Rivasi, head of the French Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (CRII-RAD), said official French reports had concealed or strongly underestimated the seriousness of cracks caused by the underground blasts. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that Iraq planned to use fuel from two atomic research reactors in a short-cut route to build a nuclear bomb and the programme was only halted by allied air raids during the Gulf War. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said the Iraqis had considered testing the device by deploying it against an enemy. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that Japan's first prototype fast-breeder reactor Monju successfully generated electricity for one hour at 5 percent of its output capacity of 280 megawatts. Protesters were saying that Monju was just another type of nuclear experiment, not different from the ones China is carrying out and France is planning to start. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that France's Prime Minister Alain Juppe alleged that economic interests and efforts to oust France from its South Pacific territories could be behind international protests against France's decision to resume nuclear tests. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that Greenpeace said Paris police had banned a protest when activists were to sail up the river Seine to deliver a petition against French nuclear tests to President Jacques Chirac's office. They also banned a "human chain" that was to pass on 3,146,253 signatures against the tests (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that a group of Japanese politicians, led by Finance Minister Masayoshi Takemura, condemned Chinese nuclear tests as a foolish act that could not be justified under any circumstances. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that nearly 750,000 Austrians -- about one in 10 of the population -- have signed a petition calling on France to cancel its plans to resume nuclear testing in the South Pacific. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that Australian Pacific Island Affairs Minister Gordon Bilney said he was disappointed by Europe's muted response to France's decision to resume nuclear testing in the South Pacific. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that Japan has decided to freeze grant aid to China until it will stop nuclear tests, with the exception of a portion that is provided for emergency relief measures and humanitarian aid. It is seen as a symbol only, as grant aid is just a small part of Tokyo's financial help. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that a German government minister has said France should use computer simulations to test its nuclear arsenal. Juergen Ruettgers, minister for education, science and research, said they "could get the same results through computer simulations", but that "it is really depressing to see the international community is not able to agree on sharing this knowledge." (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that Japan's largest opposition party placed a full-page advertisement in a leading French newspaper depicting the ruins of Hiroshima atop Montmartre hill, towering over Paris's elegant boulevards. The curt message to France: Go ahead with nuclear tests in the Pacific and you will forfeit Japanese respect. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that the Labour parties of Britain, New Zealand and Australia urged French President Jacques Chirac to take the "courageous" step of calling off the planned series of nuclear tests. (Aug. 29) Reuter is reporting that a big Polynesian sea canoe, an official protest vessel dispatched by the Cook Islands government, and three yachts sailing from Pacific rim countries have joined a growing protest flotilla in choppy seas off France's main South Pacific nuclear test site. (Aug. 30) Reuter is reporting that more than 2,200 scientists from 29 nations urged French President Jacques Chirac to scrap planned nuclear tests in the South Pacific and instead let experts try to simulate the blasts by computer.