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.
CELENESE & CLARIANT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has authorised the acquisition by German chemicals firm Celanese AG of the emulsions and emulsion powders business of Swiss company Clariant AG. Concluding that the deal does not raise any competition concerns within the European Union, Brussels cleared the takeover without conditions.…
RUSSIA - IFC
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A TURKISH-OWNED chain of Russian shopping malls and supermarkets is to receive a US$70 million loan from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation to almost double the company’s retail space in the country. Ramenka already operates four shopping malls and 10 supermarkets in the Moscow area under the name Ramstore.…
CHILD-TRACKING TECHNOLOGY
BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Brisbane, Australia
TWO Australian single fathers have invented a child-tracking device that works indoors as well as out. Scott Rickaby and Mark Tunstall, researchers at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, say they were inspired to make the device by the abduction and killing of Merseyside toddler James Bulger almost ten years ago.…
ASYLUM SEEKERS - EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MINIMUM and mandatory standards for the care of asylum seekers in European Union (EU) Member States have been agreed by the EU’s Council of Ministers for justice and home affairs. The resulting directive, has been drafted “to ensure that asylum seekers have a dignified standard of living,” said a council memorandum.…
LEGAL AND POLICY COMMITTEE
BY ALAN OSBORN
AS with any organisation that represents members with a common basic purpose but often with radically different approaches towards achieving it, CANSO has had some difficulty in defining its voice in the community in which it operates. Indeed it is a fairly new organisation, formally set up in 1998, and composed of leading civil air navigation service operators who until then had been used to speaking their own minds without any need to temper their opinions.…
RUNWAY INCURSION
Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Air Transport Association and the US’s Federal Aviation Administration are launching a CD-rom designed to train and raise the awareness of pilots and air traffic controllers in reducing the risk of runway incursions by taxiing aircraft.
Delegates at a recent International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) conference on the topic in Mexico City heard that this Runway Safety Education and Training Aid was necessary because – said one speaker – “in recent years the number of runway incursions has increased significantly worldwide,” and stands to increase further as civil aviation grows.…
AISIN PLANT
BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
MICHIGAN-BASED Aisin World Corp., a subsidiary of Japanese auto parts giant, Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., has announced its expansion into Canada through the opening of a plant in Woodstock, in southern Ontario.
Aisin, makers of brakes, transmissions, engine parts and other components, will produce body moulding and windshield trim for a Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc.…
SINGAPORE PLANT
BY MARK ROWE
US pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough has opened (NOTE: LAST WEEK) two drug manufacturing plants in Singapore worth Sing$320 million (Euro 231 million). A sterile facility with investments worth Sing$180 (Euro122 million) will be used for the freeze-drying, finishing and packaging of leading drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C and Crohn’s disease, which causes inflammation of the intestines.…
UNCTAD DIGITAL PUBLISHING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DIGITAL publishing is being promoted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to help unleash economic growth in developing countries, although it warns that these states need to improve their copyright protection. UNCTAD – which provides economic and technical advice to the developing world – has released an E-commerce and Development Report 2002 – suggesting ways of promoting digital publishing in countries lacking an efficient publishing industry.…
AMAZON PRICE WAR
BY MONICA DOBIE
AMAZON.CA, Canada’s arm of the online book giant, has launched its Christmas holiday marketing campaign by offering free deliveries on orders of CDN$39 or more, spurring Chapters.Indigo.ca to do the same. Analysts predict neither bookseller can sustain the promotion for long because it will knock a significant dent in the profit margins of both companies.…