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.
NEW SCANNER
BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Brisbane, Australia
AUSTRALIAN scientists have invented a “contraband scanner” which accurately and rapidly detects illicit drugs and explosives. Now being introduced by the Australian Customs Service, at Brisbane airport, it uses gamma rays and neutron analysis to build a real time image and composition of the scanned object, predicting its shape and density in real-time on the tarmac.…
OLYMPIC AIRLINES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FUTURE sale of Greece’s Olympic Airlines is being threatened by a formal state aid investigation launched this week (Wed 17-3) by the European Commission, which has stressed its determination that the privatisation of the airline should go ahead without any illegal state aid being paid by the Greek government.…
EU DANGEROUS PRODUCTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH the European Commission from January publishing consumer safety alerts from European Union (EU) Member States, a piece of cycling equipment has already been identified as dangerous: a Decathlon rear-mounted cycle carrier, now banned from being sold in France.…
US PRIVACY
MONICA DOBIE
A PRIVACY dispute with airlines has delayed US government plans to implement a modern security system to identify suspicious passengers in airports. The Department of Homeland Security stopped tests after airlines resisted volunteering sample information and the US Congress General Accounting Office highlighted data protection concerns.…
SMUGGLING - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HAULIERS who unwittingly drive concealed goods into a European Union (EU) country are liable for the duty if a customs inspection reveals they have been duped into smuggling a high value cargo, the European Court of Justice has ruled.…
EASTERN EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL and ALAN OSBORN
ACCESS rights to drive across ecologically-sensitive Alpine passes in Switzerland and Austria – plus to Bulgaria and Romania – are being granted to hauliers from the 10 eastern and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) in May.…
GALILEO LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SATELLITE network that will create in-cab navigational aids for hauliers and encourage the development of space-technology road tolls has taken two big steps towards completion. American and European Union (EU) negotiators have struck a deal over the frequency that will be used by the Galileo system, following three years of talks bedevilled by problems over its potential interference with the US’s planned M-code military signal.…
ROADSIDE CHECKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MOVES to increase the amount of checks that have to be made on driver’s tachographs and working time records are being resisted by the European Parliament’s transport committee. The European Commission wants to increase these checks from covering at least one per cent to three per cent of days worked by drivers, however, MEPs have proposed amendments saying that two per cent is enough.…
HYDROGEN PLANE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AIRSHIP owners in the 1930’s would have laughed: hydrogen – the fuel of the future? Remember the Hindenburg? Plunging to the ground over the USA in a ball of fire, crushing a civil airline industry as it fell.…
USA - UAE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNITED Arab Emirates (UAE) knitted clothing exports to the United States are expected to be boosted in the future by a new Trade and Investment Framework Agreement signed by the two countries. The US imported US$1.1 billion million in UAE goods in 2003, with knitted apparel a key component of this commerce, (along with woven clothes and oil).…