Subject: HEADLINES 18 October 1995

      Oct 18 (Reuter) - France, the United States and Britain
plan to join the South Pacific nuclear-free zone, presumably
after France completes its current round of controversial
tests at the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls, a U.S. official
said. The Western allies are to sign three protocols to the
1985 South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone (SPNFZ) treaty, also
known as the Treaty of Raratonga, which pledges them not to
station nuclear weapons in the region and not use or threaten
to use nuclear explosive devices.

      Oct 18 (Reuter) - French Defence Minister Charles Millon
accused a Socialist predecessor of "contempt of France" for
asking the government to end its controversial nuclear testing
campaign in the South Pacific. Sputtering with rage, Millon
reminded Socialist Paul Quiles that, as defence minister in
the mid-1980s, he had taken a swim in the lagoon at the
Mururoa atoll test site to "show the blasts were innocuous and
necessary."

      Oct 18 (Reuter) - A South African court dismissed a bid
by the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC) to ban broadcasts of a
fictional television drama on nuclear skulduggery. Judge
Frikkie Eloff, hearing the bid to keep "Die Laksman" (The
Executioner) off the air, also rejected an application by AEC
lawyers for leave to appeal.

      Oct 18 (Reuter) - Fiji has suggested France recall its
ambassador because his safety cannot be guaranteed while Paris
continues its nuclear test program. But France quickly
dismissed the proposal, saying it was  useful for France to
have a diplomatic representative in Suva and that it would
hold Fiji responsible for his well-being.

      Oct 18 (Reuter) - China, seeking to increase its
installed nuclear generation capacity to 20,000 megawatts by
the year 2020, will build at least four new nuclear power
plants in the next five years, the China Daily said. The new
plants will be built with foreign cooperation, You Deliang,
spokesman for the China National Nuclear Corp, told an
international seminar in Beijing. The paper said China's
current total installed nuclear generation was 2,100
megawatts, but did not say how many more plants will be built
in addition to the four to increase capacity to 20,000
megawatts.