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.
THIN AIR
BY MONICA DOBIE
SCIENTISTS in the United States have found new evidence that carbon dioxide, the main emission linked to global warming, is cooling and shrinking the atmosphere’s outermost layers, causing its air to be thinner. According to research conducted by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory, in Washington, the average density of air 60 miles upwards has dropped by 10 per cent over the last 36 years, and could decline by 50 per cent by the end of the century.…
URBAN POLLUTION - EU
BY ALAN OSBORN
A STRATEGY to develop a healthier urban environment in the 25 countries of the European Union, once it expands eastwards in May, has been proposed by the European Commission, which says that pollution, noise, heavy traffic and many other environmental problems are concentrated in the 500 largest towns and cities – those with a population of 100,000 or more.…
CO2 EMISSIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PROGRESS on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from new passenger cars in the European Union has stalled, according to the first European Commission figures on the subject (for 2002). It sets them at 165g/km, an apparent small rise over the 164g/km recorded by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) for 2001, (its 2002 figure was 163g/km.…
ALLERGY NETWORK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
STUDIES into the environmental conditions sparking asthma and allergies in Europe are to be carried out by an expert network (GA2LEN) funded by Euro 14.4 million in EU research grants. The initiative involves 650 researchers in 16 countries and will investigate national contrasts in allergy rates ranging between 32 per cent for British teenagers and 2.6 per cent for Albanian teens.…
IRON NANO-PARTICLES
BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIAN researchers have developed what they say is a cheaper and safer way of cleaning up contaminated sites, by using tiny iron nano-particles. The particles remove chlorine atoms from polluting compounds, replacing them with hydrogen atoms, thus reducing toxicity and making them easier for natural microbes to break down.…
DENMARK MOBILE STUDY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INITIAL results from the world’s largest ever study into whether mobile phone use causes cancer suggest that the technology is safe. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says that research carried out in Denmark, forming part of the global INTERPHONE study, has concluded: “Use of a cell phone for 10 years or more did not increase acoustic neuroma risk over that of short term users.…
THAI FARM COVER
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND is to make it compulsory for poultry owners to buy insurance to cover the spread of several critical diseases on their livestock. The insurance will be required in order for farmers to obtain loans to rebuild or upgrade their chicken farms as a result of the bird flu crisis that has spread across Asia.…
FATF REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL financial experts have concluded that the insurance industry is particularly vulnerable to being exploited by money launderers, calling for an in depth study into how organised crime is abusing the sector.
A report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has concluded it is “necessary to better understand how and to what degree the various parts of the insurance sector could be used by money launderers.”…
NUCLEAR LIABILITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
REVISIONS to a European nuclear energy liability convention will increase the total accident compensation available from operators in 15 countries to Euro 1.5 billion, up from Euro 350 million. Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey have now signed the Protocols to amend the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and the Brussels Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention.…
IMO CONVENTION UPDARE
BY ALAN OSBORN
FOLLOWING this month’s accession of Malta to the 1996 Protocol of the 1976 International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC), the amounts of compensation for maritime claims for loss of life or personal injury, and property claims, will be sharply increased from May this year.…