Search Results for: Climate change

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
CANADA’S federal government will tighten regulations on Sport Utility Vehicles by changing their classification from trucks to cars to force manufacturers to abide by their tighter emissions laws, reducing pollution from SUV’s.

The move is part of an overhaul of Canadian maximum emission levels for oxides of nitrogen, which will see the ceilings for cars reduced from 0.3 grams per mile to between 0.07 grams per mile.…

BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND has threatened to launch a disputes proceeding involving the United States at the World Trade Organisation if Washington goes ahead with plans to grant tariff privileges to footwear exports from South American countries. The US is to waive duties on footwear in ex-change for co-operation in suppressing drugs in the region but the Thais say their footwear industry will suffer heavily.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
INTERNATIONAL moves to remove the maximum permitted dose of irradiation for food could lead to a major world trade dispute, which could undermine European Union regulations, says the London-based Food Irradiation Campaign, (FIC).

A joint study by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organisation has concluded that “no upper dose limit need be imposed” as irradiated foods are deemed “wholesome throughout the technologically useful dose range.”…

BY PHILIP FINE

BP Exploration has outlined its plan for oil-leak prevention to Alaska state regulators after calls for improvements in its operations. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission had ordered the company to explain how it would better monitor and maintain the more than 1,000 critical valves at the biggest and oldest oil field at the state’s North Slope patch.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has voted to accept the latest European Commission airport noise directive, while passing some technical amendments that would make the legislation tougher than originally proposed.

MEP’s voted for changes time-limiting for 10 years an exemption allowing the noisiest aircraft registered in developing countries to continue operating in Europe, adding that these aeroplanes must be prevented from moving to new routes in the EU.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
THE SEAS around Australia are among the cleanest in the world, partly thanks to the ingenuity of local scientists, who are pioneering two projects to ensure local waters remain healthy, while assisting other more stressed ocean regions.

One involves an electronic mapping system developed by the Australian Marine Safety Authority (AMSA), which is being used to predict the effects of dangerous chemicals in the ocean.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
ONTARIO tobacco growers have recently rejected the idea of selling their individual crops directly to buyers by an overwhelming margin of 98.5 per cent in a plebiscite organized by the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board. The organisation who say it is “in response to extensive efforts by Imperial Tobacco to convince producers to support its self-serving proposal for direct contracting.”…

Keith Nuthall
FINLAND has been ordered by the European Commission to change legislation that disqualifies car passengers from insurance cover when the driver is drunk and involved in an accident. Brussels says this exclusion of passengers’ injuries contravenes the EU’s second motor insurance directive which seeks to facilitate free movement within the EU and to safeguard the interests of persons who may be injured in a motor vehicle accident.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank is to extend for another five years a stipend scheme that has successfully encouraged poor and rural families in Bangladesh to send their girls to secondary schools that were until recently predominantly male.

Working with the country’s directorate of secondary and higher education, which operates the programme, the bank is to loan Dhaka US$120.9 million interest free.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FINNISH government has been ordered by the European Commission to change legislation that disqualifies car passengers from insurance cover when the driver is drunk and involved in an accident. Brussels says this exclusion of passengers’ injuries contravenes the EU’s second motor insurance directive, which seeks to harmonise national regulations for the sector and to safeguard the interests of persons who may be injured in a motor vehicle accident.…