BRITISH GOVERNMENT DEFENDS DECISION TO REPROCESS NUCLEAR WASTE FROM GEORGIA.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has defended a controversial decision by the British government to accept a consignment of nuclear waste from Georgia for recycling in Scotland. Environmentalists have protested strongly, partly because the decision was originally kept secret and partly because Britain agreed to take the waste only after Russia, the United States and France all refused. The Foreign Secretary said Britain was acting out of practical self-interest since the material could have been used to make a nuclear weapon and the Georgian authorities had said they could not guarantee that it would not fall into the wrong hands. (BBC, April 22)

YELTSIN TO MEET PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS.