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.
SHEEPDOG SCARERS
BY MATTHEW BRACE
SOUTH African airports – including Durban and Johannesburg’s international terminals – are using sheepdogs to scare birds from their runways to increase safety and reduce the bill of millions of Rand a year caused by aircraft bird strikes.…
SULPHUR FUELS
KEITH NUTHALL
A FINAL agreement on legislation lowering the maximum level of sulphur content in diesel and petrol to 10 ppm has been agreed by the European Union Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. Under a deal struck in a EU conciliation committee, these low sulphur fuels must be available throughout the EU from January 1, 2005, and mandatory from January 1, 2009.…
CO2 PROGRAMME
From Alan Osborn
The UK has been given the go-ahead by the European Commission to provide up to pounds 3 millions in state aid to help road freight companies reduce carbon dioxide emissions over the next four years. Brussels said the schemes being considered under the UK Logistics Transaction Programme could help prevent about 350,000 tonnes of carbon emissions which would count as part of Britain’s commitments under the Kyoto protocol on climate change.…
MALARIA - WHO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL agreement has been signed to develop a new combination anti-malaria drug. Called pyronaridine-artesunate, it will be jointly developed by the Tropical Diseases Research Programme, the Medicines for Malaria Venture and South Korea’s Shin Poong Pharmaceuticals. It could be registered by early 2006.…
SLIMMING DRUGS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has quashed a 2000 ban imposed by the European Commission on certain slimming drugs. Judges ruled that Brussels had exceeded its powers by withdrawing a 1996 marketing authorisation for products containing amphetamine-like anorectic agents (amfepramone, clobenzorex, fenproporex, norpseudoephedrine and phentermine).…
SRI LANKA GENERICS
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A NEW subsidiary has been launched in Sri Lanka which will import cheaper generic drugs. STC Medical Ltd has been created by the country’s STC General Trading Co. Ltd. It will start commercial operations in January, initially importing five widely used generic drugs, namely Amoxicillin, Cefalexin, Enthromycin, Metfomin, and Atenolol.…
EU DUTY SUSPENSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked by the European Commission to shelve import tariffs on a range of leather products, because of concern that demand is outstripping supply in the EU. The suspension of duties would be indefinite, although the Commission will inevitably review these tariff breaks within a year; assuming they are approved, they come into force on New Year’s Day.…
CAMBODIA/NEPAL MORE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU ministers have ordered that new textile trade agreements agreed between the European Commission and Cambodia and Nepal be provisionally implemented from January 1, pending formal ratification. All parties agree they should last until December 2004.…
CITES MEETING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESTRICTED trade in knitted products from wool culled from captured wild vicuna in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile has been approved by a conference of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).…
CAMBODIA/NEPAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SUCCESSFUL negotiations between the European Commission and the governments of Cambodia and Nepal have led to a deal over the extension of existing textile trade agreements between these Asian kingdoms and the European Union (EU). The Commission has asked European ministers to formally agree that these agreements should be prolonged until December 2004, appending a new list of textile products that can be imported into the EU without any quota limits.…