Search Results for: united nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DETAILED and comprehensive regulations have been proposed for approval by European Union (EU) ministers, harmonising how EU car-makers design models to ward off head-on and lateral collisions. The rules would enshrine in EU law technical guidelines drawn up by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which cover issues such as air bag operation, child restraints, steering wheel position and crash test dummies, whose performance has recently been improved by an international project.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
WORKING woman in the United States spend twice as much time doing household chores and caring for children as do working men, according to a US Department of Labour study which focused on how Americans spent their time outside of work.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Plant Genetic Resources Institute and United Nations Environment Programme have launched an In-Situ Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives Through Enhanced Management and Field Application scheme preserving biodiversity in species rich Armenia, Bolivia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE CANADIAN government has announced a ban on labels that promote the sale of foods that are low in carbohydrates. When the rules take effect in December 2005, carbohydrate content must be listed on the nutrition table of all food and beverages packaging, but other low carb related claims will be forbidden.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations agency coordinating the world’s airlines has claimed the industry is finally shaking off its post-September 11 gloom and will post robust growth figures this year and onto 2006. Predictions released by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) say that global airline passenger traffic should grow by 6.2% this year and continue to expand by 5.4% in 2005 and 5.2% in 2006.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN governments should exploit the scare tactics of the 1980’s when AIDS campaigns shocked promiscuous sex devotees and intravenous drug users into changing their behaviour, stemming HIV infections, the World Health Organisation has claimed. It fears dramatic increases in HIV cases in eastern Europe that are amongst the world’s worst, notably in Estonia, Latvia, Russia and the Ukraine “where the epidemic continues to spread unchecked”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NASCENT tourism hotspot is being nurtured by the United Nations in Afghanistan, where the former Taliban government exploded the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues. The site also sports other archaeological remains and the scenic Band-i-Amir Lake, so the UN is training local war widows in providing travel hospitality services.…

BY MARK ROWE
AT first sight they would appear to be uneasy bedfellows. On the one hand, English Heritage, the British government’s advisory body with responsibility for the care and maintenance of the country’s historic environment; on the other, the Marxist-led government of the Indian state of West Bengal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HIV and AIDS are savagely shrinking life expectancy rates in southern Africa, said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In Zambia, 32.7% HIV infection rates for adults aged 15-49 has cut average mortality ages from 47.4 in 1990 to 32.7 in 2002.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRUSSELS whistle-blower and now anti-fraud MEP Paul van Buitenen has been using his new position to undermine his countrywoman competition-commissioner designate Neelie Kroes. Van Buitenen followed up a short broadside against Kroes’ commercial links at this week’s European Parliament hearing by circulating detailed allegations on paper to its press officers: these were all vigorously denied by Kroes as “unfounded and nonsensical”.…