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.
DIGITAL VAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has ignored strong pressure from the American government to abandon its plans to exempt EU-based suppliers of digital products, (including e-books), from charging VAT when they sell to customers in non-EU countries.…
SETEE SIT IN
BY MONICA DOBIE
PROTESTERS took to their seats in a downtown Montreal Indigo store against a decision from Indigo and Chapters head office to rid their stores of comfy sofas and comfortable big chairs. Demonstrators picketed with signs marked Save our Sofas, Stand Up for Sitting and Care about Chairs.…
CHAPTERS CHRIMBO
BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADA’S dominant bookseller, Indigo Books and Music Inc. has seen its profits double in the Christmas shopping quarter ending December 29, compared to year earlier. The retailer reported net earnings of CAN$18.8 million compared to a profit of CAN$9 million the previous year.…
BOOK PRICING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IMPORTS of books into European Union Member States with fixed-price regimes should also be subject to the same controls as locally published books under a comprehensive, but very flexible, EU directive on book-pricing, the European Parliament’s legal committee has said.…
ENERGY EFFIENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has sharply increased the amount of new and renovated buildings that would have to comply with new EU rules on energy efficiency, lowering the size threshold for such work from a minimum of 1,000 square metres to 500.…
EL PASO
BY PHILIP FINE
HOUSTON-based El Paso Energy Partners will build and operate a new 380 mile oil pipeline, capable of moving 500,000 barrels of crude per day from oil fields in the western Gulf of Mexico areas to Port Arthur and Texas City.…
SENATE FUEL
BY PHILIP FINE
US Republican senators have introduced a plan that would require American cars and light trucks to average 36 miles per gallon by 2016. The Democrats want a 35 mpg average by 2013. Currently, cars must attain an average of 27.5 mpg and light trucks 20.7.…
SMIRNOFF ICE CASE
BY PHILIP FINE
GUINNESS UDV is facing federal regulatory scrutiny in the United States after a competitor complained that its Smirnoff Ice TM malt based product misleads consumers, because in the US, it does not contain vodka; the New York State advertising industry’s self-regulatory apparatus has now referred the matter to the US Federal Trade Commission and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms after Guinness refused to take part in the review.…
LANDS END
BY PHILIP FINE
AMERICAN mail-order retailer, Land’s End, has launched a catalogue for large-sized women. While the company has sold clothes up to size 26 over the last few years, executives decided that there was sufficient demand for a separate catalogue.…
US SENATE DEBATES PLANS FOR INCREASED FUEL ECONOMY
BY PHILIP FINE
TWO plans that would require American manufacturers to produce vehicles with significantly increased fuel economy are being debated on the US Senate floor.
The Republicans have introduced a plan that would require cars and light trucks to average 36 miles per gallon of petrol by 2016.…