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IN COURT

  • 29/11/2006

Saving red-legged frogs: The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) recently settled an agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (epa) to protect the endangered California red-legged frog from 66 toxic pesticides used in California. The agreement prohibits these pesticides in and adjacent core red-legged frog habitats until EPA formally consults with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and ensures that the chemicals are not harming the species. CBD had filed the lawsuit against EPA in 2002.

Toxic trial: Seven Greenpeace activists recently faced trial in France on charges of trying to stop a decommissioned French warship, La Clemenceau, from being dismantled in India. They face charges of "fraudulent entry onto a military site or piece of equipment' for having boarded the ship in the French port of Toulon or near the Suez Canal, say media reports. Greenpeace lawyer Alexandre Faro argued that the decommissioned vessel could not be considered a piece of military equipment, as it had been stripped off arms. The verdict is due in few weeks. In February 2006, the French government was forced to recall Clemenceau, loaded with tonnes of asbestos, after an Indian court order blocked it from entering Indian waters. Greenpeace had held several protests saying that dismantling the ship is hazardous for the workers as well as the environment.

Damage to fisheries: After 18 months, Russia's Khatanga district court has allowed the Taimyr Directorate of the Federal Agricultural Inspectorate to impose a penalty of US $75,000 on an entrepreneur for damaging the region's bio-resources. The entrepreneur had received a licence for fishing in Taimyr Lake in 2004, with determined fishery norms. But in 2005, a joint inspection showed that the real fishing volume was much higher.

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