Subject: HEADLINES 8 February 1996 Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 09:00:15 -0500 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - Cuban officials have guided a visiting U.S. study group around the unfinished Juragua nuclear power plant, hoping to allay U.S. fears of "another Chernobyl" just 90 miles (140 km) from Florida. The group, comprising two retired admirals, two retired generals and two retired diplomats, said their plant visit on Wednesday had marked an important step toward understanding Cuba's nuclear plans. 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - Global negotiations launched nearly a year ago aimed at banning production of fissile material remain deadlocked due to a few countries trying to link the talks to wider disarmament issues, the United States said. U.S. disarmament ambassador Stephen Ledogar, in his speech to the Conference on Disarmament, avoided naming the states. But disarmament delegates from other Western countries said he was clearly pointing the finger at two nuclear threshold states -- India and Pakistan -- seen as being keen to continue their production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - China fiercely lashed out at U.S. criticism of its nuclear testing programme, saying the country with the largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal was "not qualified to lecture" Beijing. Chinese Ambassador Sha Zukang was responding to a speech by U.S. disarmament ambassador Stephen Ledogar, who had singled out China as the only nuclear power to continue to conduct underground nuclear tests and build up its nuclear arsensal. 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - The United States insisted that an agreement on banning nuclear tests worldwide be made before it would agree to start separate multilateral talks on eliminating nuclear weapons. Washington's refusal to link the two issues was spelled out by the U.S. ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, Stephen Ledogar. It was a clear "no" to attempts by India to create a linkage between comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) talks and total global disarmament talks. 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - China said its sales of nuclear equipment to Pakistan were peaceful, dismissing U.S. concerns about reports that Beijing had sold sensitive nuclear weapons-related equipment to Islamabad in 1995. "China has conducted normal international cooperation on the peaceful utilisation of nuclear energy with Pakistan and some other countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang told a regular news briefing. Subject: HEADLINES 8 February 1996 Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 09:00:15 -0500 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - Cuban officials have guided a visiting U.S. study group around the unfinished Juragua nuclear power plant, hoping to allay U.S. fears of "another Chernobyl" just 90 miles (140 km) from Florida. The group, comprising two retired admirals, two retired generals and two retired diplomats, said their plant visit on Wednesday had marked an important step toward understanding Cuba's nuclear plans. 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - Global negotiations launched nearly a year ago aimed at banning production of fissile material remain deadlocked due to a few countries trying to link the talks to wider disarmament issues, the United States said. U.S. disarmament ambassador Stephen Ledogar, in his speech to the Conference on Disarmament, avoided naming the states. But disarmament delegates from other Western countries said he was clearly pointing the finger at two nuclear threshold states -- India and Pakistan -- seen as being keen to continue their production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - China fiercely lashed out at U.S. criticism of its nuclear testing programme, saying the country with the largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal was "not qualified to lecture" Beijing. Chinese Ambassador Sha Zukang was responding to a speech by U.S. disarmament ambassador Stephen Ledogar, who had singled out China as the only nuclear power to continue to conduct underground nuclear tests and build up its nuclear arsensal. 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - The United States insisted that an agreement on banning nuclear tests worldwide be made before it would agree to start separate multilateral talks on eliminating nuclear weapons. Washington's refusal to link the two issues was spelled out by the U.S. ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, Stephen Ledogar. It was a clear "no" to attempts by India to create a linkage between comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) talks and total global disarmament talks. 8 Feb 1996 (Reuter) - China said its sales of nuclear equipment to Pakistan were peaceful, dismissing U.S. concerns about reports that Beijing had sold sensitive nuclear weapons-related equipment to Islamabad in 1995. "China has conducted normal international cooperation on the peaceful utilisation of nuclear energy with Pakistan and some other countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang told a regular news briefing.