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• Second severe air pollution alert in Serbian town

  - 2006-12-29

  BELGRADE AFP — Dangerous gases that may have leaked from an ageing petrochemical plant in a Serbian town near Belgrade has triggered an alert overnight, the second such incident in little over a month. Concentrations of benzene in the air in Pancevo reached 117 micrograms per cubic meter around 11:00...

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• China says spring thawing no threat for toxic-spill hit river

  - 2006-03-11

  BEIJING AFP — China's top environmental official has said the thawing of ice in the spring will not repollute the Songhua River, the scene of a severe toxic chemical spill last year. "The final conclusion is that this spring, the Songhua River will not have a second incident of...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, benzene, China, pollution, river

• Fishing banned despite low levels of toxic slick in Russia's Amur

  - 2005-12-25

  VLADIVOSTOK, Russia AFP — Russians will be denied fishing in the Amur river in the Far East for half a year though levels of toxic elements flowing from China are low, officials said. "The region's inhabitants are once again reminded that fishing in the Amur is prohibited," the Khabarovsk...

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• Chinese poison slick 30 km from Russian city

  - 2005-12-21

  KHABAROVSK, Russia AFP — A toxic river spill caused by a blast in a Chinese chemical plant last month was less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the far eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk, officials said. The benzene-contaminated slick in the Amur river, initially carried by the Songhua river...

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• China, Russia race to finish dam as poison slick nears urban center

  - 2005-12-20

  KHABAROVSK, Russia AFP — Thousands of Chinese laborers supported by Russian military helicopters and hundreds of trucks raced against time to finish a dam to protect the Russian city of Khabarovsk from a toxic spill expected to hit Wednesday, officials said. Officials said Tuesday the sandbag dam, one of...

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• Dike to defend Russian city from Chinese toxic slick nearly built

  - 2005-12-07

  VLADIVOSTOK, Russia AFP — Authorities in the far eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk have nearly finished building a dike to protect the city from a toxic slick released by last month's factory blast in China. "There's about 50 metres left" to build of the projected 200-metre (650-foot) long dike,...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, benzene, China, pollution, Russia

• China's Harbin endures third day without water, environmental fears

  - 2005-11-24

  HARBIN, China AFP — Millions of residents in China's Harbin city endured their third full day without running water due to a toxic chemical spill, as concerns grew over the long-term impacts of the disaster. Harbin's taps remained turned off as an 80-kilometer (50-mile) slick of the carcinogen benzene...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, benzene, China, Government, river, spill

• 80-kilometer slick flows into China's Harbin city

  - 2005-11-23

  HARBIN, China AFP — An 80-kilometer-long (49-mile) slick of highly toxic benzene flowed along the icy Songhua river into one of China's biggest cities, contaminating water supplies for up to four million people. The carcinogenic chemical reached the outskirts of Harbin, capital of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, on...

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• WWF warns of pollution after fuel tanker fire in Sardinia

  - 2004-01-02

  ROME AFP ? A fuel tanker that suffered an on-board explosion off the Mediterranean island of Sardinia earlier this week could cause an environmental disaster if it sank, environmental pressure group WWF said. "The consequences for the marine environment would be incalculable if the ship sank with 300 tonnes...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, benzene, pollution