Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 07:49:45 -0400
 
     9 April 1996 (Reuter) - The Arab League called for an
international inspection of Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor.
The passed resolution urged the United Nations and IAEA to
carry out an "immediate investigation (of) radiation levels at
Dimona reactor...to confront the possible dangers from a
radioactive leak and its dangers to the environment and
underground water in the region."

     9 April 1996 (Reuter) - An IAEA conference on the tragic
health and environmental effects of the Chernobyl nuclear
disaster 10 years ago began in Vienna on Tuesday. About 700
delegates from around the world, including the leaders of
Ukraine and Belarus, were expected to attend the four-day
meeting to discuss the consequences over the past decade of
the world's worst nuclear accident.

     9 April 1996 (Reuter) - The Chernobyl catastrophe caused
a sharp rise in thyroid cancers and may be linked to leukaemia
among workers cleaning up the radioactive fallout, experts
told a conference in Vienna on the world's worst nuclear
accident. A possible link between the fallout and a spate of
leukaemia among clean-up workers was particularly worrying. 

     9 April 1996 (Reuter) - The German state of Bavaria on
Tuesday gave initial approval to the building of an
experimental nuclear reactor which has attracted U.S. anger
because it flies in the face of efforts to prevent nuclear 
proliferation. The reactor will the first one outside China
and Libya built to use highly-enriched, weapons-grade uranium
since an international programme to curb use of the fuel began
in 1978.

     9 April 1996 (Reuter) - France, one of the world's five
recognised nuclear powers, will sign the Pelindaba treaty on
Thursday declaring Africa to be a zone free of nuclear
weapons, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. A ministry
statement said the decision to sign the treaty "shows the
importance France attaches to its relations of friendship and
cooperation with African countries."

     9 April 1996 (Reuter) - The world's five recognised
nuclear powers will sign the Pelindaba treaty in Cairo on
Thursday declaring Africa a zone free of nuclear weapons and
prohibiting nuclear testing on the continent, Egypt's Foreign
Ministry said on Tuesday.

     9 April 1996 (Reuter) - A senior U.S. arms control
official said on Tuesday progress towards a nuclear test ban
treaty was "painfully slow" and warned Washington would still
walk away from a pact if its basic terms were not met. The
official said some countries had got the impression that the
U.S. was "excessively enthusiastic" for a pact to be sealed by
a June deadline. But, he said, those countries risked ignoring
Washington's "minimum conditions" on such aspects as the scope
of the treaty, verification rules and its entry into force.