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Concern is mounting in Albania after a US suggestion that Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal could be stored and destroyed there. Albania, a NATO member country, was the first state to entirely destroy its chemical weapons in 2007.
Scientists consulted by Gazeta Shquiptare voiced warnings about the duration of the process, the danger posed by some of the items to be destroyed, and the waste produced by the neutralisation of chemical weapons —
"The destruction of 16 tonnes in 2007 took 16 months,” said the experts. The destruction of 1,000 tonnes of Syrian weapons could take more than eight years. […] Once the process is completed, pollution will have to be monitored, because it lasts for years.
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In the meantime, adds the newspaper —
… dozens of the residents of Elbasan, close to the facility that is supposed to house the Syrian weapons, held a peaceful demonstration last weekend to protest against the arrival of the arms in their country.
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
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