WORLD HEALTH AGENCY: DISASTERS OF 2005 NOT ENTIRELY NATURAL - GENEVA, Switzerland, January 10, 2006 (ENS) - The high death toll in 2005 from tsunamis, hurricanes, typhoons, mudslides, earthquakes, volcanoes, locusts and pandemics can not be blamed entirely on natural disaster, the United Nations health agency said in a year end statement. Human activities such as deforestation and emission of greenhouse gases also play a part.  http://www.ens-newswire.com

BIRD FLU KILLS TURKISH CHILDREN ON EUROPE'S DOORSTEP -  ANKARA, Turkey, January 10, 2006 (ENS) - Three children are dead in rural eastern Turkey, raising fears across Europe about the emergence of human cases of bird flu on the continent. The three deaths struck the same family in the rural community of Dogubayazit, with three siblings dying in less than a week. A fourth child in the family has survived the illness. http://www.ens-newswire.com

U.S. WILL KEEP FOUR KINDS OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE OUT OF HANFORD - RICHLAND, Washington, January 10, 2006 (ENS) - The U.S. Department of Energy will not import four categories of radioactive and hazardous waste to the Hanford Nuclear Site in southeastern Washington state, at least until it completes another environmental review. Under a settlement just reached with the state of Washington no low-level waste, mixed low-level waste, transuranic waste, and mixed transuranic waste will be shipped to Hanford until an environmental statement is completed.  http://www.ens-newswire.com

EUROPEAN CARBON EMISSIONS TRADING ENTERS CRUCIAL SECOND PHASE  - BRUSSELS, Belgium, January 10, 2006 (ENS) - Twenty-five European Union member states - 25 different national plans for reducing carbon dioxide emissions linked to climate change with different sets of expectations, different languages, different economic circumstances. To clarify the process, the European Commission Monday proposed a set of standardized tables for presenting information such as projected emissions. http://www.ens-newswire.com

TROPICAL PLANT WILL ORBIT EARTH WITH BRAZIL'S FIRST ASTRONAUT - BRASILIA, Brazil, January 10, 2006 (ENS) - On March 22, Brazil will, for the first time, send an astronaut, Lt. Col. Marco Pontes of the Brazilian Air Force, on a mission into space. Pontes will be taking nine Brazilian scientific experiments with him. One of them, prepared by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company, is intended to evaluate how a seed from a tropical tree behaves aboard a space station.  http://www.ens-newswire.com