Search Results for: united nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BROAD political agreement on the operation of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change has been achieved in Bonn, Germany by 186 participating nations, but without the participation of the US.

Original targets were scaled down to ensure the participation of Japan, Canada and Australia in the deal, who secured concessions on so-called carbon sinks; they can now gain credits to emit more gases through re-vegetation and effective management of forests and farmland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ increasingly misnamed oil-for-food scheme has been extended until November 30, with the Iraqi government and the UN Security Council agreeing to break the deadlock that led to the agreement being suspended since June.

Diplomats agreed that any changes to the programme should be put off in the meantime, although the American and British governments have released statements saying that they intended to continue discussions focused on reforming the system.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRAZIL and the USA have struck a deal over the licensing of generic drugs, which should see an end to the looming World Trade Organisation dispute between the two countries, brought by the American government.

The Brazilian government have agreed to consult the US, if in the future it thinks that it might have to use its Article 68 law to a grant compulsory licence on patents held by US companies.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE KYOTO protocol on climate change was adopted by 186 nations in Bonn, but without the participation of the US, which is responsible for 25 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

President Bush is now likely to come under intense international pressure to produce an American plan to tackle climate change.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE DISMANTLING of the Indonesian price regulator APKINDO and short-termist over-production in the south east Asian country has been blamed by the United Nations as the source of continual instability in world markets for this key timber product. Since the abolition of the organisation, said the new 2000-2001 World Commodity Survey from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD), “the plywood market has witnessed extremely volatile prices.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH restaurateurs and hoteliers could be forced to pay regular fees to record companies for piping music from radio broadcasts into their premises, if the European Commission wins a legal case against the British government.

It has asked the European Court of Justice to order the UK to scrap the existing system, where no royalty fees are payable for playing this background music free-of-charge to customers.…

KEITH NUTHALL
GLOBAL consumption of textiles is “continuing on its upwards trend,” the latest World Commodity Survey from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has said. Consumption volume is predicted to rise from 48 million tonnes to between 56 and 58 million tonnes by 2005, said the report.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWEDEN has been told by the European Commission to end its favourable tax treatment of beer compared to wine or face legal action at the European Court of Justice.

Under the Swedish alcohol tax regime, wine in the 8.5 per cent to 15 per cent abv band bears tax at about four times the rate for beer in the three per cent to five per cent range, even though it has only three times as much alcohol.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COPPER production is expected to continue forging ahead, fuelled especially by surging Chinese demand, the World Commodity Survey 2000-2001, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD), has predicted.

The annual survey, covering market trends of the trade in most major and minor metals, says that supplies should increase by seven per cent this year, with a number of mining expansion and development projects reaching maturity.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST session of the United Nations’ Forum on Forests has begun work at UN headquarters in New York, with a brief to identify a five-year agenda of discussions and develop the means of implementing any international agreements on forests that might be struck by the forum in future.…