Archive

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE, in Columbo, Sri Lanka
THE PRESIDENT of the Indian Footwear Components Manufacturers’ Association has asked the New Delhi government to set up a Rupees 1,000 million technology modernisation fund to help the sector “face international competition and gain confidence.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
CONVERSE, the international athletic footwear and apparel brand has been launched in India by Planet Sports. It is known for its helium technology-equipped hi-tech performance footwear, sporty sandals, and the All Star Canvas range. Prices range from IND Rupees 600-2,000.…

KEITH NUTHALL
BATA Ltd, Sri Lanka’s biggest shoemaker, has claimed that it is turning around from a period of financial and labour problems at its retail outlets, with increased production and planned profitability in the south Asian island. The multinational company’s Peruvian-born MD Jorge Carbajal rejected reports and speculation in the Sri Lankan press that Bata was closing down its island production unit, selling off interests to a competitor and limiting its operations to an import and distribution outfit.…

KEITH NUTHALL
SUPERHOUSE Leathers Ltd, of India, the manufacturers of the Allen Cooper brand, have launched a Moccasins range, with shoes made of a leather upper bent and rounded at the bottom, which is then bonded with the sole. They cost IND Rupees 1,499.…

BY KATE REW
MANAGERS at Los Angeles International Airport, (LAX), are testing an unusual way of generating electricity – recycling food left over by its hungry, but distracted passengers. Their discarded burgers, chicken-bits, salads and tacos are taken to a waste-to-energy plant and electricity is fed in to the local power grid.…

Keith Nuthall
A REARGUARD action is being fought by the European Commission to save its ambitious proposals to impose a deadline of 2005 on the complete liberalisation of the EU electricity market. Following pressure from the French government, EU governments have agreed to rule the idea out, preferring a looser deadline, although this has yet to be formally agreed at the Council of Ministers.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
A MICRO-hydraulic power generation system has been developed by Toshiba Engineering Corp., of Japan; called Hydro-eKIDS, it can generate electricity as long as a head of about 2m is available.

The company is promoting the equipment by stressing its flexibility regarding available water flows.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MORE details of the European Commission’s plan for a new and Sixth Framework Research Programme have been released from Brussels, with the announcement of a proposed new independent nuclear studies budget of Euro 900 million.

If the plan is approved by the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, this would be used for research into nuclear fission and fusion “centring around the treatment and storage of nuclear waste as well as reactor safety,” a Commission statement said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL fund to support the decommissioning of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power station will be able to call on Euro 100 million, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said. It will act as the fund administrator and has said that contributions had been received from Britain, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GOVERNMENT of Canada has formally made an application to host the ITER international fusion test reactor, at a site near Clarington, Ontario. Ottawa’s move was made in Moscow by its ambassador to Russia, Rod Irwin, in the presence of representatives of other countries involved in the project; it is the first such bid.…