International news agency

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.

CONVENTION RATIFICATION



BY PHILIP FINE

The US is one step closer to ratifying an international nuclear accident treaty. President George W. Bush has sent the United Nations Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage to the US Senate for a final vote. The Convention was introduced in Vienna more than five years ago, when it was adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency.…

Read more

CLONED LIFESTOCK



BY PHILIP FINE

THE US National Academy of Sciences says that no significant evidence yet exists that eating products from cloned livestock causes harm. A committee – which included microbiologists, geneticists and animal scientists – said most of the serious risks are not human health hazards linked to food but from the potential impact of cloned animals on the environment that they interact with.…

Read more

ELI LILLY



BY PHILIP FINE

THE UNITED States’ Eli Lilly expects to introduce three new experimental drugs next year, despite being investigated by the US Food and Drug Administration. The company, which has been cited for more than 200 manufacturing deficiencies this year and has so far invested more than US$50 million to improve its performance, foresees regulatory approval next year to sell the new drugs.…

Read more

LATINO FOOD - US



BY PHILIP FINE

US food investors have acquired a taste for Mexican food as small and medium-sized Californian latino-food producers are being increasingly targeted for purchase by mainstream American food firms. According to a specialist report in the Los Angeles Times, burrito-maker Don Miguel Foods, salsa-maker Chilay Foods and taquitos and quesadillas-maker Excelline Foods were all bought or heavily financed recently by bigger firms.…

Read more

COUNTERFEIT SOFTDRINKS



BY ALAN OSBORN, in London, PHILIP FINE, in Montreal, and MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney

WITH a new crackdown on counterfeiting being prepared by the

European Commission, some industry watchers will be surprised to hear that soft drinks is one the sectors that Brussels thinks needs close attention.…

Read more

MAGNETIC FRIDGES



BY PHILIP FINE

US researchers are celebrating an important advance in developing a viable magnetic refrigerator. The scientists have improved upon the key ingredient to a process that uses no ozone-depleting refrigerants or energy-consuming compressors. They have been working with an alloy metal called gadolinium, which heats up when exposed to a magnetic field, then cools down when the magnetic field is removed.…

Read more

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS



BY KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN AND PHILIP FINE

THE EUROPEAN Union, the United States and their various allies seem to be moving towards a deal at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) negotiations over the creation of a global register for protected geographical indications in the wine and spirit trade.…

Read more

BOTOX ADS



BY PHILIP FINE

US Botox adverts may soon be halted as the US Food and Drug Administration has told Allergan, maker of the wrinkle-deadening injection, to cease distribution of television advertisements and patient brochures. The FDA says that Allergan’s information on how long the injections last and which wrinkles were approved for injection by the FDA last April were misleading.…

Read more

AIR TRAFFIC



BY PHILIP FINE, in Montreal, Canada

THE EFFECTS of September 11 have left their mark on the relationship between air traffic control national service providers (ANSPs) and their customers. The economic fall-out from the terrorist attacks now defines much of the dialogue between ANSPs, airlines and airports.…

Read more

LIGHT CIGARETTES



BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADIAN smokers switch from regular cigarettes to lighter versions because they think milder brands are less damaging according to Health Canada survey. The poll conducted on 1,200 smokers in January 2002, said 24 per cent of smokers switched because they are less harsh, 21 per cent because they taste better, 18 per cent because of health reasons, 14 per cent as a step toward quitting and 12 per cent because they contain less tar and nicotine.…

Read more