Search Results for: International law

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has struck a fishing access deal with the west African island republic of Sao Tome and Principe, lasting from this summer until May 31, 2005. Assuming it is confirmed by EU ministers, access will be granted to Sao Tome waters for 36 freezer tuna seiners, (from France and Spain), two pole-and-line tuna vessels (from Portugal) and 25 surface longliners (from Spain and Portugal).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s research Commissioner Philippe Busquin has backed bids by both France and Spain to host the large ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in, respectively, the cities of Cadarache and Vandellós. His support follows the announcement that Japan has formally proposed the city of Rokkasho as a site, joining Canada in making a formal application.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL initiative to cleanse the polluted Barents Sea of nuclear waste has been launched, with Euro 110 million being pledged by Russia, the European Commission, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The Barents clean-up will be the first priority project of this Support Fund of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership; the sea, to the north of Russia and Norway, is commonly known as the largest repository of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in the world.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A DYNAMIC online forum on European energy policy has been launched by an international consortium; the European Union-funded INTUSER website contains information about current energy issues and questionnaires allowing specialists and the public to contribute to policy debates. The three year project’s website includes special sections on alternative, renewable, fossil and nuclear energy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FEASIBILITY study has been carried out by the EU’s Joint Research Centre for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate possibilities for incorporating a neutron coincidence counter into the Hybrid K-Edge Densitometer (HKED) to be delivered by ITU under an ITU-NMCC (Nuclear Material Control Centre) contract for the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, Japan.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists based at Galway, in Ireland, has made a surprising discovery that could have significant consequences for future climate change.

The EU-sponsored Parforce research project, led by the National University of Ireland, has found that iodine vapours released by marine algae can help thicken haze and cloud layers, blocking sunlight and thereby partially offsetting global warming from greenhouse gases.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
THE SRI Lankan government has announced that it is to furnish its cabinet and junior ministers with 115 new photocopiers, bought in a multi-million rupee deal from John Keells Office Automation (JKOA), part of the John Keells Holdings group, one of the country’s largest companies.…

Keith Nuthall
COTTON producers in developing countries face annual losses of some US$9.5 billion because of subsidies benefiting rich countries, according to a new report released this week at the World Bank. The world cotton industry is slumping, with average prices hitting a 30-year low of 42 cents (US$) per pound, halving the incomes of many developing country cotton producers, says the study, Production and Trade Policies Affecting the Cotton Industry, by the International Cotton Advisory Committee.…

BY MARK ROWE
CHINESE authorities have imposed strict new operational rules for commercial jets that are not equipped with airborne collision avoidance systems. Passenger jets without the second-generation airborne collision avoidance system, known as ACASII, will be prevented from taking off or landing between 8am and 9pm in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has complained to a key World Trade Organisation committee that its beef imports are being unfairly restricted by the USA because of concerns that they are contaminated with BSE. It has claimed at the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee that the US should not, for example, be insisting on the onsite inspection of Swiss meat plants, because the Office International des Épizooties has classified Switzerland as having a low incidence the disease.…