The health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine 20 years ago have been grossly under-estimated, says an environmental charity. Official UN figures predicted up to 9,000 Chernobyl-related cancer deaths. But Greenpeace says in a report released on Tuesday that recent studies estimate that the actual number of such deaths will be 93,000. Stressing that there is a problem with diagnosis, it adds that other illnesses could take the toll to 200,000. "Our problem is that there is no accepted methodology to calculate the numbers of people who might have died from such diseases," Greenpeace campaigner Jan van de Putte told Reuters news agency. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk censor News |
Editor - 09:40:00 04-18-06 |
An 8-Year-Old Girl Is Among Only 3 People Who Survived Bus Plunging 650 Feet in Mexico; 57 Dead |
An overcrowded bus speeding home from a religious festival veered off a highway emergency ramp and crashed through a metal barrier, plunging more than 650 feet into a ravine. Fifty-seven people were killed, including a 13-year-old boy. Just three people survived Monday's plunge from the highway, considered one of the 15 most dangerous in Mexico. Two were in critical condition and one, an 8-year-old girl, was stable, according to Sanatorio Escudero, the hospital in Orizaba where the injured were taken. Ranulfo Marquez, deputy director of civil protection for Veracruz state, said the girl was conscious but had suffered multiple fractures. The bus, equipped to hold 46 passengers, was carrying 60, some of whom were standing. Federal Preventive Police Cmdr. Reinaldo Ascencio Cavazos said the owner of the bus was detained for questioning. ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1854135&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 09:38:00 04-18-06 |
Alabama Legislature Approves Pardons for Rosa Parks and Other Civil Rights Activists |
The Alabama Legislature gave final approval to a bill that sets up a process to pardon civil rights icon Rosa Parks and hundreds of others arrested for violating segregation-era laws. The sponsor of the bill, Democratic Rep. Thad McClammy, said the legislation could lead to pardons for Parks, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of others convicted of violating laws aimed at keeping the races separate. McClammy said the arrests date back as far as the early 1900s. The bill, named "The Rosa Parks Act" was amended in the Senate to allow museums such as The Rosa Parks Library and Museum in Montgomery to continue to display records of the arrests. ... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1854011&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 09:36:00 04-18-06 |
Ukraine rivals 'plan to team up' |
Ukraine's former PM Yulia Tymoshenko says her erstwhile Orange Revolution ally, President Viktor Yushchenko, plans to team up with his arch-rival. Ms Tymoshenko, who fell out with Mr Yushchenko last year, said her information came from members of the president's Our Ukraine bloc. The liberal leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution were beaten in last month's general election by Viktor Yanukovych. He heads a pro-Moscow party opposed to their pro-Western liberal agenda. Ms Tymoshenko said Mr Yanukovych's Party of the Regions and Our Ukraine were planning to form an alliance. She condemned it as "a plan to discredit the talks between the democratic forces".... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4918658.stm
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Editor - 09:32:00 04-18-06 |
Oil continues run past $70 a barrel |
Oil prices hit a new intraday high of $70.88 a barrel Tuesday a day after settling above $70 a barrel at the close of commodities trading in New York for the first time.Light, sweet crude for May delivery surpassed the previous record of $70.85 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before easing back to $70.75. That's up 35 cents from Monday, when the contract settled at $70.40 a barrel, a record close. In London, Brent crude for June delivery at the ICE Futures exchange also hit an all-time high of $72.20 a barrel, before easing back to $71.91 — a 45-cent increase on Monday's close. Crude prices ignored a report from OPEC forecasting weakening global demand. ... http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-04-17-oil-70_x.htm
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Editor - 09:29:00 04-18-06 |
Civilians injured 'by US forces' |
Six people, including a mother and her newborn baby, have been injured in two incidents in eastern Afghanistan, reportedly by American forces. Both the incidents took place in Khost province. A six-year-old boy was also injured in one of the incidents. The reports come as President Hamid Karzai has ordered a probe into the killing of seven civilians by coalition forces over the weekend. The US military has also launched an investigation into the deaths. The mother was travelling home from a clinic with her newborn baby after midnight in the Yaqubi district of Khost in the east of Afghanistan when they were fired upon by US forces, a family member told the BBC. The mother, the baby and two other women in the car were injured. One of the women had gunshot wounds in her mouth, doctors said. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4918022.stm
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Editor - 09:25:00 04-18-06 |
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