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.
DRINKS-MUSIC LINK
BY PHILIP FINE
A NUMBER of major American drinks companies have signed up with
online music operators in a flurry of cross-promotional activity following growing public awareness of the fact that illegal music downloading could run the risk of legal action for consumers.…
UTAH LAWS
BY PHILIP FINE
A BILL has been proposed in the conservative US state of Utah, that would outlaw motorists from driving with children when they have a blood-alcohol level exceeding .02 per cent, or the equivalent of one alcoholic drink. Current levels are at .08 or .10 across the country, which were set in response to a past tightening of Utah legislation.…
EPA BUDGET
BY PHILIP FINE
THE US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could see its financial resources shrink under the recent Bush Administration annual draft budget. If Congress passes the proposal currently being discussed, total federal investments in environmental protection would decrease by US$1.9 billion (GBPounds 920 million) or nearly six per cent, claims pressure group Environmental Media Services (EMS).…
FACTORY FARMS
BY PHILIP FINE
AN ORGANISATION representing 50,000 environmental health professionals in the USA is calling for a moratorium on opening what it calls Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs) – factory farms – alleging they spread disease.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) has cited a number of problems with ‘CAFOs’, including drinking water contamination from animal waste runoff, growing antibiotic resistance resulting from antibiotics routinely fed to animals, severe respiratory problems in factory farm workers and – crucially – illnesses among people living near CAFO operations.…
GM INSECTS
BY PHILIP FINE
WHILE genetic modification (GM) seems to have scored a public relations disaster in the area of food, many health advocates are putting support behind the emerging area of GM insects. Three of the most promising ongoing projects are investigating the development of mosquitoes incapable of transmitting malaria, which could be released into the wild, maybe replacing insects that can carry the disease.…
BEER TAX
BY PHILIP FINE, in Montreal
HOW micro is micro? That seems to be the question in Pennsylvania after a tax credit reserved for microbreweries quintupled its production volume criteria. The move has angered both Miller and Coors, who have been pushing to repeal the change.…
EXPLORERS BREW
BY PHILIP FINE
A SMALL US brewer, wanting to give off that frontiersman feel, decided to use a famous image of America’s early-19th century explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark for an advertising campaign. Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing Co. chose a 40-year-old logo featuring their silhouettes but rather than pointing a finger west, one of the explorers would now hold a bottle of Boulevard Pale Ale.…
E-BAY SALES
BY PHILIP FINE
HOT US design team Proenza Schouler, will shun luxury clothes retailers such as Barneys and Neiman Marcus at the end of this month for Internet auction house eBay, where they will sell more than four dozen pairs of shoes and 50 garments in a 10-day auction, beginning February 26.…
HONEY BEE
BY PHILIP FINE
THE US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is trying to breed a better honey bee by using recently created bee genomic data. The ARS is identifying specific genes that boost honey bees’ immune systems, to improve both bee breeding and management, enabling the insect to fight diseases that regularly restrict honey production.…
AIR-TRAFFIC TRIPLING
BY PHILIP FINE
AMERICA should triple its air capacity to adapt to changes in the next 15 to 20 years, says the US Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta. He said immediate expansions in airport and air traffic control facilities to deal with growing numbers of jet taxis, private jets, airliner traffic and unmanned aerial vehicles.…