Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REPORT on the international conventions and European and national laws controlling the use of cannabis as a medicine, has been released by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. The paper offers a legal analysis of the options and limitations of using medicinal cannabis and its derivatives in the EU, as well as noting current practice.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has launched a comprehensive research programme to unmask mysteries surrounding the contraction of venous thrombosis by air passengers, including epidemiological, pathophysiological and clinical studies.

Scientists will aim to determine the frequency and causes of travellers’ thrombosis, to identify who is at greatest risk and what may be done to prevent the condition.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WITH the European Union’s Pounds 2.2 billion Galileo satellite navigation system being given the final go-ahead by government leaders after long arguments over its cost, the European Commission is taking pains to promote its future usefulness to the airline industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PLANS by American space agency NASA to develop nuclear energy sources that can be fitted onboard space ships have been discussed by the scientific and technical subcommittee of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs.

Its experts were informed of the earmarking of money in NASA’s 2003 budget for a new nuclear systems initiative.…

Keith Nuthall
THE BULGARIAN government is to stem a boom in imports of white tinplate crown corks; Sofia is imposing temporary safeguard duties to protect Bulgaria’s production of this key drinks packaging product, used to seal glass bottles. It told the World Trade Organisation that imports in 1999 increased by 673 per cent compared to 1998, and by 874 per cent in 2000, which “contributed significantly to domestic products’ price decline and to reduced profitability.”…

BY MARK ROWE
THE CHAIRMAN of General Motors China has warned that neighbouring south-east Asia’s home grown car industry will in future find itself squeezed by stiff competition from the emerging giant next door. China’s expanding middle class, robust economic growth and low rates of vehicle ownership means that car makers in south-east Asian countries such as Thailand will be hard pressed to compete in the growing Chinese market, according to Phil Murtaugh, chairman of General Motors China.…

BY MARK ROWE
DISPUTES over who owns an idea and the right to stop others from stealing it probably date back to the cavemen who invented the wheel. It was most likely resolved by the application of a large club to the head.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FOR years, the US government has played Mary Poppins on agricultural subsidies, claiming that its handouts do not encourage farmers to overproduce when prices are low. Now it is not really trying to pretend.

The mask has not just slipped, it has been casually pulled off and tossed aside.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund is to help set up an Islamic Financial Services Board to regulate and lay down standards for financial transactions throughout the Islamic world. A key aim of the project is to incorporate the special insurance tenets that exist in the Islamic business world into the wider capitalist system.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEXICO and the United States made pledges on several food industry issues during recent two-day talks. The countries have agreed to work together on sanitary policies, animal health, food safety, and research. US-Mexico agricultural trade has doubled since 1993 to US$13 billion in 2001.…