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.
CITES - FALCON
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ARAB sheik and his camel, riding the desert with a trained falcon, hunting for bustard migrating south to Africa; with skill and tenacity, he could catch 10 plump prey, a feast in a land where little grows.…
FACT BOX
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SAKER FALCON
*Elegant flyers with 110cm wingspan, sandy-brown upper-feathers, and whitish below, with dark streaks.
*2003 wild population estimated at 3,600-4,400 pairs, a 48-70% decline from 1990, nesting from Hungary to western China.
*Steepest falls from 1990 in Kazakhstan – 90%, Uzbekistan – 90%, Russia – 69%, Kyrgyzstan – 68% and Mongolia – 59%.…
HOUBARA BUSTARD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
*Bulky and long-necked, it has a 140cm wingspan, brown above and white below, with a black stripe down the sides of its neck.
*Three sub-species, in the Canary Islands, North Africa, and the Sinai Peninsula to Arabia, into Central Asia.…
AFGHANISTAN ROSE OIL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DESPERATE to offer Afghan farmers a lucrative alternative to growing opium poppies, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is working with French company HD Investment to develop a rose oil fragrance industry. HD has committed $100,000 in start-up funds for the enterprise, following presentations by the UNDP and Kabul-based Altai Consulting.…
EU/US REGULATORY COOPERATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A ROAD map on regulatory cooperation agreed by the European Union (EU) and the United States includes a deal to work together on cosmetics industry rules, according to documents released by Washington. The agreement sanctions cooperation between the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the cosmetics unit of the European Commission’s directorate general (DG) for enterprise.…
MOLDOVA - WTO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MOLDOVA has launched an inquiry that is expected spark its erection of a temporary safeguard duty, protecting the country’s only cosmetic and perfumery producer Viorica Cosmetic from a boom in imports. Those of cosmetics and perfumes have increased seven-fold since 2000, said a note from Moldova to the World Trade Organisation.…
BRITAIN - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is resorting to legal action to push the British government into prioritising a law guaranteeing environmental impact assessments on development projects on publicly owned Crown Land. These are generally excluded from UK planning legislation and so not subject to regulations implementing the European Union (EU) environmental impact assessment directive.…
NETHERLANDS PRIORITIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SECURING agreement in principle on the proposed European Union (EU) regulation on restricting the use of certain fluorinated greenhouse gases is a key priority of the new Dutch presidency of the EU. Official documents drawn up by the EU Council of Ministers committee of permanent officials (Coreper) show the Netherlands wants a deal on this legislation at October 14’s environment council.…
ITALY - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ITALIAN government is being taken to the European Court of Justice for allowing 5,000 illegal or uncontrolled landfills to operate, breaking EU law. The European Commission will cite national forest police allegations that 700 uncontrolled dumps may contain hazardous waste.…
CHATHAM HOUSE CONFERENCE
BY ALAN OSBORN
WE don’t need reminding that industry is generally harmful to the environment but less understood is the potentially quite damaging ecological effect of rising agricultural production throughout the world. This theme came through pretty loud and clear at the Consumers, Farmers and Food conference held at the Royal Institute of International Affairs last week (5-6/July), in London.…