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.
FISH QUOTAS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has asked EU ministers to extend until December 2006 a scheme allowing fish products to be imported into the EU at low or zero duties, covering species too scarce in Europe’s seas to meet local demand.…
CHILLI ADDITIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RESTRICTIONS on the import of chilli and chilli products containing carcinogenic red chemical dyes have been imposed by the European Commission, which insists such products must be accompanied by an analytical report showing they do not contain Sudan I, Sudan II, Sudan III or Scarlet Red (Sudan IV).…
QUEBEC TOBACCO SMUGGLING
BY PHILIP FINE
CANADIAN tax auditors will try recover up to CDN$1 billion (GBPounds 430 million) from the JTI-Macdonald Corporation of Toronto. The province of Quebec says the company owes it unpaid taxes from the early 1990s on, ironically enough, Export A cigarettes.…
POLAND v CHINA: WTO
BY PHILIP FINE
POLAND has called for formal talks with China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), because of concerns that its local footwear industry is being damaged by cheap Chinese imports. In a note to the WTO about a selected range of footwear products, Warsaw said: "In 2001, as compared to 2000, imports increased by 31.3 per cent and in 2002 as compared to 2001 by 18.8 per cent.…
FOOTWEAR ACCOUNTS
BY PHILIP FINE
A FORMER executive for American athletic footwear company Converse has been charged with conspiracy. The US Department of Justice claims Steven G. Dodge, former vice president of the company’s US sales division, submitted statements to auditors alleging US$412,000 (GBPounds 226,000) was owed in 1999 to giant shoe retailer Just For Feet, knowing there was no such debt.…
E CYCLING - US
BY PHILIP FINE
AN ELECTRONICS recycling partnership has been launched in the US. The Environmental Protection Agency, retail giant Staples and the Product Stewardship Institute have convinced nine major electronics manufacturers, including Apple and Sony to pay for the recycling of their products.…
FUEL CELL INVENTION
BY PHILIP FINE
A UNITED States Department of Energy scientist has developed a process (using a metal catalyst, nitrogen, methanol, and water) that could extend the life of the catalysts that make fuel cells work. Chemist Devinder Mahajan’s low-temperature system avoids the usual degrading to expensive catalysts that convert hydrogen into electricity, turning almost 100 per cent of the carbon monoxide in the hydrogen feed into carbon dioxide and additional hydrogen, he claimed.…
OIL RIG DISPUTE
BY PHILIP FINE
US shipyard company First Wave Marine has settled a dispute with Malaysian drilling rig owner Crest Petroleum Bhd. In 2002, First Wave subsidiary Newpark Shipbuilding had been contracted to convert a Crest rig to a self-erecting tender-assist rig, but work stopped over a payment dispute, claimed Newpark.…
USA BSE OUTBREAK
BY PHILIP FINE, SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE and KEITH NUTHALL
THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE) has intensified calls for beef importing countries to refrain from over-reacting to BSE outbreaks. Looking at the recent USA infection, the OIE said it opposes resulting blanket beef bans, saying only specified risk materials and animals should be blocked.…
BEEF CAMPAIGN - US
BY PHILIP FINE
THE NATIONAL Cattlemen’s Beef Association last week finally launched a postponed US advertisement campaign (Jan 26). The US$3 million worth of adverts, had been scheduled to run from January 12, but would have followed the December 23 BSE discovery.…