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The head of a group representing the victims of nuclear testing in French Polynesia says a law to provide them compensation is a public relations exercise. France's Minister of Defence recently outlined the main points of a proposed Bill to compensate, for the first time, victims of nuclear testing it conducted both in Algeria and later in French Polynesia, between 1966 and 1996. The compensation announcement precedes a court hearing in which the French government will answer to charges it failed to protect its French Polynesian workers from nuclear fallout during that time.

The Moruroa e Tatou nuclear test veterans association in French Polynesia has expressed surprise that a fresh compensation ruling is being appealed by the French state. This follows an undertaking by the French defence minister, Herve Morin, that in such matters the state would no longer go ahead with a challenge but accept court rulings. According to Tahitipresse, the head of Moruroa e Tatou says he wonders if the minister had lied or just used deceptive language. As the French compensation bill is to go to the French senate, the association has questioned the significantly lower compensation being considered for victims in French Polynesia over that offered in France.

The French National Assembly has approved a bill to compensate the victims of the nuclear tests it carried out in French Polynesia and Algeria for more than three decades. It's the first time the French government has acknowledged it has a legal obligation to compensate the 150,000 military personnel and local staff who may have suffered serious health problems due to exposure to radiation. But the workers aren't happy, saying the new bill falls short of what they need.

A court in French Polynesia has begun hearing complaints from former workers at France's nuclear weapons test sites. The cases, being heard for the first time, relate to work in Mururoa and Fangataufa and seek recognition and compensation for ill health. Eight cases have been lodged, although five of the workers have already died of what have been called radiation-linked diseases. In March, the French government enacted legislation to allow compensation.

An estimated 3,000 people have joined a march in French Polynesia to demonstrate against the new French law to compensate nuclear weapons test victims, saying it doesn't go far enough. The march in Papeete had been organised by test veterans, the Maohi Protestant church and the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira Party of Oscar Temaru. The demonstration coincided with a visit to the territory of a French defence ministry delegation, which excluded the minister after he decided to pull out the day before he was due to leave Paris. The marchers claim that the compensation law, which is to be voted on in Paris this week, is too restrictive as it only considers the fallout in parts of the territory and excludes a reference to the environment.

An estimated 3,000 people have joined a march in French Polynesia to demonstrate against the new French law to compensate nuclear weapons test victims, saying it doesn't go far enough. The march in Papeete had been organised by test veterans, the Maohi Protestant church and the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira Party of Oscar Temaru. The demonstration coincided with a visit to the territory of a French defence ministry delegation, which excluded the minister after he decided to pull out the day before he was due to leave Paris. The marchers claim that the compensation law, which is to be voted on in Paris this week, is too restrictive as it only considers the fallout in parts of the territory and excludes a reference to the environment.

The French Polynesian Nuclear Test Veterans Association says it'll fight for a better package for the victims of the French nuclear test fallout. The French Senate has passed a bill to compensate nuclear test veterans for the consequences of its weapons tests between 1960 and 1996 in French Polynesia and Algeria. France had earlier said its test were safe and clean. Moruroa e Tatou's head, Roland Oldham, says the Loi Morin is unjust.

The French Polynesian Nuclear Test Veterans Association says it'll fight for a better package for the victims of the French nuclear test fallout. The French Senate has passed a bill to compensate nuclear test veterans for the consequences of its weapons tests between 1960 and 1996 in French Polynesia and Algeria. France had earlier said its test were safe and clean. Moruroa e Tatou's head, Roland Oldham, says the Loi Morin is unjust.

"French Polynesia's nuclear test veterans organisation is dismayed at the final shape of the French compensation law, saying it fears that it is too restrictive. The head of Moruroa e tatou, Roland Oldham, says too few cancers are being linked to the tests and the zone recognised for radiation-related poor health is too small. Mr Oldham says the provisions as outlined in the decree released last weekend fail to address the impact of the tests and will be challenged. "We can put another court case, probably in the European Court of Human Rights, and theother hand we do think that the Polynesian people are motivated to keep struggling.""

French Defense Minister Hervé Morin in Paris today for the first time hinted at a possible bill, to be tabled in January, which would officially recognize and compensate veterans and workers who have suffered illnesses as a result of their exposure to the nuclear experimentation facilities in French Polynesia between the 1966 and 1996. In an interview with French daily newspaper Le Parisien, Morin said he was currently drafting a bill, to be tabled in January before the French Parliament and that would make provisions for compensation for some 100,000 civilian and military personnel working for the French Army and who would have been irradiated by the effects of nuclear testing, as well as the nearby population.

The French government's nuclear safety expert, Marcel Jurien de la Graviere, says the fallout from the nuclear weapons tests in French Polynesia has not been, as it has been claimed, the cause of illnesses.

Algeria has minimized the value of French bill related to the compensation of victims of nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara, and Polynesia. In fact, APS has quoted Foreign Minister, Mourad Medelci, saying the abovementioned financial compensations "are not the lone required demand capable of settling such issue, but rather removing the nuclear pollution caused by such tests." At the margin of Africa Day celebrations, attended by accredited diplomatic corps, Medelci indicated that Algeria is following with great interest the French bill on nuclear damages compensation. He further mentioned that "such a bill would only settle a part of the issue."

French Polynesians who have had their claims for compensation for the effects of nuclear testing rejected say they won't give up their bids for redress. France carried out many nuclear tests in French Polynesia from 1960 until 1996, and its government has said it will compensate the victims. But campaigner, John Doom, says eight people who took their cases to French Polynesia's industrial relations tribunal were unsuccessful. He says the three surviving workers have leukaemia, and they and the five widows will consult with lawyers over how to continue with their bids.

The French National Assembly approved a landmark bill on compensating the victims of nuclear tests carried out in French Polynesia and Algeria over more than three decades. Some 150,000 civilian and military personnel took part in 210 nuclear tests carried out in the Sahara desert and the Pacific between 1960 and 1996. Many of them later developed serious health problems.

Paris - An appeals court in Paris Friday rejected a demand for compensation by 12 former soldiers who said they had contracted fatal cancers when they took part in French atomic weapons testing between 1960 and 1996, French media reported. The court ruled the cases of 11 of the soldiers were invalid because their alleged radiation contamination took place before January 1, 1976, the threshold year fixed by law. Regarding the case of the twelfth soldier, which dated from 1983, the judge ruled that the appeals court was not the correct venue. The case should have been heard by court competent to rule on workplace accidents, the judge said. Only five of the 12 soldiers were on hand to hear the verdict. The other seven had died of their ailments, which included cancer of the skin, thyroid and kidney and leukemia. An estimated 150,000 civilians and ex-soldiers who took part in the 210 above-ground nuclear weapons tests France carried out in Algeria and Polynesia were potentially affected by Friday's ruling. Defence Minister Herve Morin admitted in March that several hundred people may have developed cancers as a result of radiation from the tests. He proposed a compensation plan offering 10 million euros to the victims in 2009.

A ten-million euro compensation package for the victims of nuclear test is being described as "peanuts". The French Defence minister Hervé Morin has outlined the main points of a proposed Bill to compensate, for the first time, victims of nuclear testing conducted by France both in Algeria and later in French Polynesia, between 1966 and 1996. Roland Oldham, the president of the French Polynesian nuclear test veterans' group, Mururoa o Tatou, says the deal is a bad joke. "They announce a few million like that, just like we should be very happy, we should drop on our knees and say thank you to the French Government. But that's not the case at all, because it's peanuts , it really is peanuts when you compare how the French government spends a lot of money on defence."

"A French senator representing French Polynesia has labelled the French law to compensate victims of the nuclear weapons tests as an alibi for the government to give it a good conscience. Richard Tuheiava made the comment in Algeria where a meeting is being held to discuss the aftermath of the French weapons tests which began in the Algerian desert before being continued in the South Pacific."