Other Stories

Experts urge Japan to rethink plutonium plant

Japan has nearly completes the Rokkasho plutonium reprocessing plant that could produce up to 8 metric tons of plutonium a year. France, India, the United Kingdom and Russia currently produce large amounts of plutonium from spent civilian reactor fuel.

Army Contractor Drains Stored Nerve Agent

Workers at the Newport Chemical Depot in western Indiana have begun destroying over 250,000 gallons of deadly VX nerve agent.

WHO Waiting on Marburg Virus Results

A doctor and a nurse have been exposed to the deadly Marburg virus in Angola. The World Health Organization will not be able to say if the disease is under control for at least 21 days after they were exposed, or 21 days after anyone else contracts it. There have been 308 cases, of which 277 have resulted in death.

Dozens Contract Illness From Small Pets

Thirty people in at least 10 states have known to have fallen sick with dangerous multidrug-resistant bacteria after being infected by their small furry pets: hamsters, mice or rats. Other kinds of pets have also caused illnesses, including salmonella. The CDC makes several recommendations for reducing the likelihood of catching diseases from pets.

Scientists Band Baby Peregrine Falcons

Four baby falcons on the Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s downtown San Francisco headquarters have been banded without incident.

Sturgeon Poaching Leads to Caviar Sting

California state game wardens have arrested 5 people in connection with the sale of caviar and flesh stolen by poachers of rare white sturgeon from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Commercial catching or sale of white sturgeon in the state is banned and sport fishing is very limited. Poaching is very tempting as prices have soared since the collapse of the Russian sturgeon fishery.

The only white sturgeon in t he wild in the USA are in the Sacramento River and the Columbia River which flows through Washington. The fish were nearly wiped out during the first half of the 20th century. Recovery is very slow as it takes years to reach reproductive age, then the female sturgeon only spawns every 4 years. There are currently estimated to be about 80,000.

Technical Problem Scrubs Speed Record Try

Weather and technical problems have prevented a British team's attempt at a new speed record for electric-powered vehicles. They hope to try again on Saturday.

Experts Try to Scare Off Hungry Sea Lions

Biologists have chased off sea-lions that were eating Chinook salmon in the Columbia River. Normally tolerated, the sea lions, themselves protected, may be trapped or killed this year if they return as the numbers of returning salmon are very low. Permission to do so will likely come too late to affect this year's salmon run, however.

Chlamydia Outbreak Kills a Dozen Penguins

A dozen penguins have died at the San Francisco Zoo as a result of Chlamydia infection that was probably caught from an infected gull. It was the oldest birds of the colony that succumbed.

Pittsburgh Aviary Plans Penguin Bingo Game

The National Aviary in Pittsburgh is to use pooping penguins to "call" the numbers for a bingo game to celebrate National Migratory Bird Days.

Japan may lodge protest over Chirac remarks

Japan says that it has not decided not to host the world's first nuclear fusion reactor, and may well protest President Jacques Chirac's remarks that it would.

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