Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
AFGHANISTAN TRAINING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NASCENT tourism hotspot is being nurtured by the United Nations in Afghanistan, where the former Taliban government exploded the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues. The site also sports other archaeological remains and the scenic Band-i-Amir Lake, so the UN is training local war widows in providing travel hospitality services.…
WHO TRAINING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) is preparing to train young public health professionals from developing countries, to spread international expertise in the subject worldwide. Over the next four years, qualified and experienced professionals under 38-years-old will take two-year courses, funded by US$5 million from Microsoft’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.…
SPEED DATING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NOVEL ‘speed dating’ system at the first global ICT (information communication technology) forum for least developed countries, proved a success, said organisers. Held in Mauritius, potential donors, investors and beneficiary governments identified areas of common interest in one-to-one meetings.…
OVERFISHING WARNING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FISHERY resources in the Asia-Pacific region needs improving, with overfishing hitting stocks of valuable species, said the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). Its Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission is to focus on boosting small-scale fishery management and fish farming.…
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRAZIL and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are setting up an International Forum on Creative Industries. Based in Brazil, it will help developing countries generate wealth from creative industries, such as the recording, photography, commercial art, music production and films.…
INTERNATIONAL TIMBER DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PROGRESS has been made in 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 next February.…
AFRICA PLAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN EXTENSION of private ownership has been proposed in an African Productive Capacity Initiative, approved by the African Union Summit, in Ethiopia this summer. Privatisation was recommended for the food processing, textile and clothing, minerals, metals, wood, auto, pharmaceutical and building material sectors.…
DOHA ROUND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
TECHNICAL specialists are working to clarify outstanding issues in the new ‘framework agreement’ on the outcome of the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round. Rich countries promised to slash 20% from all “trade distorting support” in the first year following the striking of a final deal.…
LIFE EXPECTANCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HIV and AIDS are savagely shrinking life expectancy rates in southern Africa, said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In Zambia, 32.7% HIV infection rates for adults aged 15-49 has cut average mortality ages from 47.4 in 1990 to 32.7 in 2002.…
IRRIGATION PROJECT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MORROCAN-French-Austrian consortium has won a contract in what the International Finance Corporation says is the first private-public-partnership irrigation project. The group building the US$85 million Guerdane scheme’s dam and water channels will be led by Morocco’s Omnium Nord-Africain (ONA).…