Search Results for: united nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EFFORTS by industrialised nations to cap greenhouse gas pollution could fall short by 2015, when developing country emissions may rise to dangerous levels previously emitted in the developed world, the UN’s Second Committee (economics and finance) has been told.…

BY MARK ROWE
AT the start of the 21st century, technology appears set to revolutionise health care in the same way as the discovery of anaesthesia, antiseptics and penicillin. And this is about far more than computer systems that make waiting lists more efficient or advances in keyhole surgery.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan facing unprecedented pressure for his resignation over the involvement of his son in the brewing Iraq oil for food scandal, the spotlight has again fallen on the finances of his global body.…

Keith Nuthall
AMERICAN newspapers are reporting that the United States has been rebuffed on a World Trade Organisation (WTO) case focusing on the Budweiser brand battle. Washington has been trying to get European Union (EU) geographical indication laws declared illegal under global intellectual property rules because they protected the use of the brand by Czech brewer Budejovický Budvar.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
IS there a role for the insurance companies of rich countries to play in developing “micro finance” in the world’s very poorest regions? The question has become relevant following the launch earlier this month (November) of the International year of Microcredit 2005 by the UN’s Agricultural Fund for Development (IFAD).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COBALT and uranium mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is too dangerous for workers and should remain closed, a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) assessment has concluded. UN officials have examined Shinkolobwe mine since a June collapse killing eight miners.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUSTRALIA has made a formal bid for an extension of its jurisdiction over its submarine continental shelf, taking it beyond the standard 200 nautical miles from its coasts, granting exclusive rights over potentially lucrative non-ferrous metal seabed deposits.…

Keith Nuthall
THE JAPANESE government has come under pressure from the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office to cut landing and user fees at its major international airports. The call came in advice from USTR deputy Josette Sheeran Shiner, handed over to Japan foreign minister Ichiro Fujisaki, in Washington.…

BY MARK ROWE
THERE is no doubt that water quality in eastern Europe has improved immeasurably since the break up of the Soviet Union and its related satellite states, a process reinforced by the wholesale privatisation now taking place. But while standards have improved, concerns about pollution, old pipes and outdated treatment works are likely to continue.…

Keith Nuthall
THE UNITED Nations’ in-house audit office has claimed to have saved the world body more than US$26 million in the past year, with other recommendations on further eliminating waste and improving efficiency in the pipeline. In its annual report to the UN general assembly, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) stated that more than half of the 541 recommendations it made during 2003-04 have been implemented or are being worked upon.…