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.
BOLKESTEIN - NUCLEAR
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE TOTAL phasing out of nuclear energy being carried out by a number of EU countries is not justified according to the EU’s internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein (CORRECT SPELLING). In a speech headed “Nuclear energy needed more than ever” given to the Institute of Economic Affairs, London, Mr Bolkestein said nuclear energy provided the technical capacity to increase energy diversification which was needed to reduce external dependence.…
EIB BALKANS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank has followed up an agreement to integrate Balkans countries’ electrical systems with that of the European Union by announcing a Euro 130 million loan for developing the region’s electricity networks.
Euro 70 million is being lent to the Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro, (Euro 59 and 11 million respectively).…
INTELLIGENT ENERGY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has trimmed Euro 25 million from a planned new Intelligent Energy for Europe programme, which extends existing EU programmes promoting energy conservation and renewables.
Ministers agreed that Euro 190 million should be spent on the 2003-6 programme, which must be jointly agreed with the European Parliament.…
SPAIN - INTERNET
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MICROSOFT, Vodafone, Oracle, AT&T, Nokia, Verizon, IBM and other telecoms related companies have joined a protest statement coordinated by the International Chamber of Commerce against a Spanish law restricting e-commerce.
Spain is not only requiring commercial websites based on its territory to register with its government, but also to insist that Spanish ISP’s block access to site that are deemed threatening to the country’s defence, public order, consumer rights or other values.…
GREAT APES - CONGO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONSERVATIONISTS have welcomed a controversial United Nations (UN) report identifying wealthy western companies allegedly involved in wartime projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) they say may endanger rare great apes.
It says Barclays Bank, diamonds giant De Beers, British mining corporation Anglo American, Belgian bankers Fortis, South African miners Iscor, and the United Arab Emirates’ Standard Chartered Bank and 79 other companies have broken OECD multinational good behaviour guidelines by their association with mining, logging or road building in the Congo.…
COOKING OIL SOAP
BY MARK ROWE
A JAPANESE firm and a soap manufacturer have produced a laundry detergent made from used cooking oil. Residents in Tokyo take their used cooking oil to 28 collection points in the city from where it is removed to a factory and initially filtered to remove sediments and impurities.…
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
BY ALAN OSBORN
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have gained significant new access rights to information held by public authorities and others under legislation agreed by the Council of Ministers of the European Union (EU) and the European Parliament. In what was welcomed by environmental campaigners as a victory over some EU member governments, the agreement goes well beyond the United Nations’ 1998 Aarhus Convention on information, decision-making and redress in environmental matters by widening the range of what can be accessed and simplifying the procedures.…
IRISH SEA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMMERCIAL ferry is being fitted with optical sensors by two universities to conduct an environmental survey of the surface of the Irish Sea, which will provide comprehensive data to improve the management of its ecosystems.
The University of Wales’ School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor, and the National University of Ireland are using Irish Ferries’ Ulysses for the experiment.…
MED POLLUTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL scientists coordinated by the Munich-based Max Planck Institute for chemistry has discovered evidence of environmentally damaging high pollution levels over the Mediterranean Sea. They believe high levels of sulphate and soot particles in the troposphere could reduce evaporation of the sea and reduce the amount of rainfall in the Middle East and north Africa.…
FOREST FIRES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCIENTISTS have used data from NASA and the European Space Agency to examine the impact of the 1997-98 Indonesia bushfires, and have concluded that they contributed significantly to the largest recorded annual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. They calculated the fires released up to 2.57 gigatonnes of carbon, 40 per cent of average worldwide fossil fuel carbon emissions.…