[B>O>O>M bulletin for 10/31/95] 

New York / Oct. 31, 95

Dear readers,
 
   Thank you so much for all of your support. Your response means a
tremendous amount to us. Your appreciation is our best motivation. The fact
that so many people are involved in the protesting against France is
encouraging for all of us. 

  We want to continue to bring you up to date information that interests you
and that you can use. In response to some readers we have decided to scale
down our posts and perhaps increase their frequency. This means that we will
not be sending you all the news stories that we get, but we will make our
library available to you upon request. 

  Once again, much thanks and keep in touch. 

Cheers,
Beau Tardy / Media Chief 
B>O>O>M / BOMBS OUT OF MURUROA
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B>O>O>M / BULLETIN FOR 10/31/95
BOMBS OUT OF MURUROA//fax: usa+212-974-0297// NETFEED@aol.com
News materials are copyright Reuters unless otherwise noted. Contents may
have been abridged.




***THIRD TEST / WORLD REACTIONS ***

    PARIS (Reuter) - France has staged its third nuclear test in the South
Pacific in defiant fulfilment of President Jacques Chirac's vow to conduct a
final series of checks on its nuclear arms before ending tests forever. 

    Reaction in Japan, Australia and New Zealand was swift and emotional
Saturday in what has become almost a ritual of widespread condemnation
followed by concerted French defense of its nuclear program. 

    In Tokyo, protesters outside the French Embassy stamped on photographs of
Chirac and one demonstrator solemnly cradled the carcass of a dead dove in
what organizers said was a symbol of the threat French testing posed to world
peace. 

    The mayors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the only cities to suffer an atomic
bombing, issued statements denouncing the blast as an ``outrage.'' 

    In Japan, Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama termed the test ``extremely
regrettable,'' adding that Tokyo had ``repeatedly protested (against) the
testing ... and we will again demand that the testing be stopped.'' 

    But Chirac says France will probably stage another three tests before it
signs an international treaty, expected next year, banning all future tests
and turns to computer simulations to verify the effectiveness of its nuclear
weapons. 

    The Defense Ministry said the latest test, carried out at 2200 GMT (6
p.m. EDT) Friday, was of an explosive force under 60 kilotonnes, or 60,000
tonnes of TNT. 

    ``The test was aimed at guaranteeing the future security and  reliability
of the (nuclear) weapons,'' an army spokesman said. 

    No further details were given, apparently following a new low profile
that Paris has adopted after concluding that its initial policy of openness
had only encouraged testing critics. 

    As in the case of France's two earlier tests Sept. 5  and Oct.r 2, the
strongest denunciations came from the Pacific rim nations geographically
closest to the remote Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia where the test was
carried out. 

   
    New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger told Radio New Zealand he was
frustrated and disappointed by the latest test. 

    Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said France ``continues to
seriously damage its international reputation by its actions in the face of
world opinion.'' 

    Russia added its voice to a chorus of global criticism. ``The French
leadership is well aware of Russia's position on this,'' Itar-Tass news
agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Grigory Karasin as saying. 

    Karasin said Russia noted the test ``with regret.'' 

    Chirac's decision, disclosed just a week ago, to probably conduct only
six tests and try to end them as soon as possible was widely ascribed to
worldwide outrage which had taken Paris by surprise. 

Reut10:03 10-28-95


In Nagasaki, dozens of people staged a protest sit-in at the city's main
park. 

    ``They don't understand at all the suffering of the atomic bomb victims.
We really feel helpless,'' Nagasaki protester Sakue Shimohira, a 60-year-old
atom bomb survivor, told reporters. 

    ``I want (French) President Jacques Chirac to visit Hiroshima and
Nagasaki to understand what happens as a result of nuclear damage,'' she
said. 

    Haruo Kurosaki, 60, a photographer who has been documenting the fate of
Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors since 1968, said the test demonstrated ``the
egoism of the nuclear powers.'' 

    Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito said the test was a ``totally unpermissible
outrage,'' 

    He said setting off the blast now was a challenge to world opinion. Ito
and Hiroshima mayor Takashi Hiraoka are scheduled to appear on Monday before
the International Court of Justice in The Hague at a hearing on the legality
of nuclear weapons. 

    ``Conducting a test directly before the proceedings start is nothing but
challenging the worldwide trend against nuclear weapons,'' Ito said.  REUTER
 280850 GMT oct 95 ( 

Reut08:06 10-28-95




      BRUSSELS, Oct 28 (Reuter) - Belgium on Saturday lent its voice to the
chorus of criticism of France's third nuclear test in the South Pacific,
noting world opinion was moving in favour of a total ban on nuclear tests. 

    ``The Belgian government notes with great regret the third French nuclear
test in the Pacific,'' the foreign ministry said in a statement. 

    The statement added that Belgium supported an appeal launched by the
President of the EU Commission Jacques Santer in favout of ``determined
action by the European Union.'' 

    Meanwhile, the Belgium-based environmental group Mother Earth called for
all consumers and business to join an international boycott of French
products and services ``to show their disagreement with the policy of
President (Jacques) Chirac.''  REUTER  281316 GMT oct 95 ( 

Reut11:42 10-28-95
 

    LONDON (Reuter) - Hundreds of people protesting French nuclear testing
invaded the grounds of Prime Minister John Major's official country home
Sunday as Major prepared to greet French President Jacques Chirac. 

    The demonstration, by members of the environmental pressure group
Greenpeace and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, occurred about an hour
before Chirac arrived for a two-day bilateral summit. 

    Greenpeace said in a statement that dozens of police, some on horseback,
had failed to prevent the invasion by more than 500 protesters who carried
French flags with radiation symbols painted on them and blew whistles and
claxons. 

    Police said they made a number of arrests. They were unable to confirm
the organizers' estimate of the number of invaders. 

    Sky Television, an independent satellite channel, said some protesters
made it to within 100 yards of Chequers, a former stately home northwest of
London which for many years has served as a country retreat for British prime
ministers. Chirac had not reached the estate at the time of the protest. 

    Chirac's visit follows the third in a series of French nuclear tests in
the remote Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia which was carried out Friday. 

    Chirac's meeting with Major is one of a series of annual summits between
leaders of the two countries, the only ones in Western Europe with nuclear
arsenals. 

    British sources said the accent on this meeting would be on defense,
alongside the search for common ground ahead of next year's
inter-governmental conference on the future of the European Union, and
bilateral ties on a range of issues. 

    Major faces more criticism of his handling of the French nuclear testing
issue when he goes to a Commonwealth heads of government summit in New
Zealand from Nov. 10 to 13. 

    Former members of the British empire in the Pacific region, including New
Zealand and Australia, have been outraged at the tests, which they say could
result in leaks of radioactivity. 

Reut13:17 10-29-95


      ROME (Reuter) - Italy said Wednesday it had summoned a senior French
official for an urgent explanation of why French commandos boarded a boat
belonging to the environmental group Greenpeace in its waters. 

    The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the French charge
d'affaires had been summoned to explain why some 20 commandos from the French
destroyer Dupleix raided the Greenpeace boat Altair in the southern port of
Brindisi. 

    ``The Italian government awaits a full and satisfactory clarification of
the behavior of the Dupleix crew during the disagreeable incident,'' the
statement said. 

    Greenpeace, protesting against French nuclear testing, had earlier called
the boarding an ``act of war.'' 

    ``French commandos wearing gas masks boarded our boat, broke the glass of
the windows in the bridge and threw in six tear gas grenades,'' said Giuseppe
Onufrio, a Greenpeace activist who was on board the Altair at the time. 

    Witnesses said the crew of the Altair, which was floating free in
Brindisi Harbor, seemed to lose control of the boat for about 10 minutes
after the commandos climbed aboard. 

    Greenpeace protestors in inflatable dinghies had pulled alongside the
Dupleix, which was docked in Brindisi, and painted slogans across the side of
it condemning France's recent resumption of nuclear testing in the South
Pacific. 

Reut20:55 10-25-95



      PAPEETE, French Polynesia, Oct 25 (Reuter) - France could transfer its
South Pacific military command from Papeete to New Caledonia after ending
nuclear tests in French Polynesia next year, according to a Tahiti newspaper 

    The report, to be published on Thursday by La Depeche de Tahiti, said the
COMSUP command could move to Noumea. 

    The move would only affect a few dozen officers but would be symbolic if
it took place just after the end of France's controversial nuclear testing
campaign, scheduled for next May. 

    French Polynesia President Gaston Flosse told reporters on Wednesday
plans to move COMSUP were being studied but no decision had been taken. 

    COMSUP watches over a huge area of French Polynesia, including nuclear
testing sites at Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls, New Caledonia and Wallis and
Futuna. 

    It was responsible for the operation which foiled plans by the
environmental group Greenpeace to stop the nuclear tests. 

Reut04:35 10-26-95



      PARIS, Oct 25 (Reuter) - Most French people would give up the country's
nuclear strike force if drastic budget cuts were needed, an opinion poll said
on Wednesday. 

    The IFOP poll published in the news magazine L'Express said 53 percent of
French voters would accept abandoning the nuclear force, while 46 percent
would not. 

    The survey was published as the government embarked on an austerity drive
to cut state deficits in order to comply with the Maastricht Treaty criteria
for adoption of a single European currency in 1999. 

    Previous polls have found a majority of voters oppose France's
controversial nuclear testing campaign that President Jacques Chirac launched
in September to ensure the credibility of the strike force. 

Reut11:11 10-25-95



      By Abigail Schmelz 

    STOCKHOLM, Oct 26 (Reuter) -  Sales of French wines in Sweden have halved
in recent weeks as Swedes protested against nuclear testing and turned to
Spanish Riojas or Italian Frascatis, the state liquor distributor said on
Thursday. 

    Sales of lower-priced wines -- ranging from 40 to 50 crowns ($6.00 to
$7.50) -- per bottle have been hit hardest, a spokesman at the state-run
alcohol monopoly Systembolaget said. 

    Finding a bottle of French wine in a Swedish restaurant is becoming a
tough task as restaurateurs remove them from wine lists and replace them with
other, mainly European, wines. 

    A group of fashionable central Stockholm restaurants agreed between
themselves not to serve French wines after France's first nuclear test in
September. 

    ``We don't have French wines on the menu, but we have them in stock,''
said Nico Hasselstrom, manager at Sturehof Inn. 

    ``We've managed to replace everything quite easily,'' said Guy Taylor,
part owner of Rolf's Kitchen restaurant in central Stockholm. ``The problem
arises when a person wants Calvados (French apple brandy). There is nothing
quite like it.'' 

    South African wines and brandies, once shunned in the Swedish capital,
are now a mainstay at the hip Rolf's Kitchen. ``At first no one would touch
them, and suddenly they've become really trendy,'' Taylor said. 

    Sweden, like France a member of the European Union, has been the toughest
European critic of France's nuclear test programme on the remote South
Pacific atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa. 

    France postponed a visit to Paris by Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar
Carlsson last month because of the vehemence of Swedish protests. 

    Critics of the Swedish boycott are quick to point out that Swedes have
not snubbed Chinese restaurants with the same fervour although China has
tested nuclear weapons this year. 

    ``The French farmers are being lynched. Less than five percent of the
population in France are farmers, and they are not dealing at all with
nuclear tests,'' said Francois Aillet, Agricultural Attache at the French
Embassy in Stockholm. 

    French cheese is also falling victim to the boycott. Claes Melin, a
cheese importer, says he has lost about 50 percent of orders. 

    Melin said Swedish firms had promoted the boycott of French cheese and
wines by cancelling orders for corporate events. 

    Melin said Swedish carmaker Volvo cancelled a French cheese order worth
about 24,000 crowns ($3,600) for a company banquet because an official
decided he did not want the French product. A Volvo spokesman said he was
unaware of the lost order. 

    Nordic neighbours in Norway and Finland have not responded to the call to
arms against the French with the same passion. 

    ``It's because Sweden is very collective. It's the Swedish mentality,''
Melin said. 

    Sales of French wine in Norway have actually increased, recent statistics
show. 

    In Finland, state alcohol monopoly Alko had to destroy 400,000 bottles of
French wine after it received a threat in September saying five bottles had
been laced with cyanide. 

Reut09:12 10-26-95""


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