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BY KEITH NUTHALL
COTTON production will be a future key focus of the ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Development Round, member countries have agreed in Geneva. A half-time ‘framework’ agreement commits developed countries slashing at least 20% from all “trade distorting support” for agriculture (which includes cotton growing), including schemes limiting production.…

BY EDWARD PETERS, in Hong Kong
HONG Kong might be renowned for being one of the safest cities in the world – mugging and other forms of street violence are practically unknown – but that’s not to say that commercial crime doesn’t rear its ugly head in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, reports Edward Peters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States Department of Energy (DoE) “is set to cancel work” on its six-year-old FIRE (fusion ignition research experiment), the European Commission is predicting. Its research directorate general was convinced by Anne Davies – DoE fusion energy office director – branding FIRE’s copper magnets “dead end technology”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GREECE and Cyprus are taking over the key European Commission jobs in the environmental health world, in the new team unveiled by incoming Brussels president José Durão Barroso. Taking over from Sweden’s Margot Wallström as environment commissioner will be Greek Stavros Dimas, who has served as stand in employment commissioner since his compatriot Anna Diamontopoulou returned to national politics in March.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH Greece and Cyprus are taking over the key European Commission jobs for the cosmetics, soap and perfumery sectors, the enthusiasm of Brussels for tougher environmental, consumer protection and animal welfare rules could wane.

Cypriot Markos Kyprianou has been appointed as health and consumer affairs commissioner in the new Commission that takes office in November.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COUNTERVAILING and antidumping duties imposed by the United States on Canadian exports of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod have been undermined by a strongly critical ruling a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel.

US International Trade Commission (ITC) inquiries leading to the tariffs’ imposition in 2002 were challenged by Canada’s Ivaco Inc and Ivaco Rolling Mills Inc.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has issued a standard, advising managers on how to deal with dissatisfied customers. Global standard ISO 10002 has been designed to enable companies and public services benefit from complaints, while ensuring customers are left as happy as possible.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is gloomy about the prospects of success this year at the WTO Doha Development Round agricultural talks. It was “deeply disappointed” at the failure of negotiations last month designed to deliver a first approximation of the talks overall ‘modalities’ goals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PROGRESS has been made in global negotiations renewing the 1994 International Tropical Timber Agreement, which regulates trade in the commodity and expires next year. Representatives of 58 countries have asked UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) officials to draft a successor agreement for approval at a meeting next February 14-18.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has launched detailed technical guidelines on the use and development of smart cards carrying health data that could be read by doctors and nurses worldwide. The standard ISO 21549 is the latest in a programme of work on harmonising medical records carried out by the Geneva-based organisation; three parts have now been published and five more will be released next year.…