Search Results for: International business

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL meeting of healthcare associations at the World Health Organisation (WHO) has agreed a code of conduct calling on doctors to not only advise patients to quit smoking, but to give up tobacco themselves. “Studies show that even brief counselling by health professionals on the dangers of smoking is one of the most cost-effective methods of reducing” tobacco use, said the WHO.…

BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIAN smokers have undergone a quantum leap in the past 10 years. From smoking the notorious unfiltered Soviet-era papirossi, they now have a wide choice of international brands, for whom this liberalisation has been commercially significant. Russia remains one of the more appealing markets for tobacco companies, with fewer barriers and, for the time being, a fairly laissez faire approach to advertising, as well as a burgeoning middle class with the disposable incomes to afford premium cigarettes.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE US government has been urged to further tighten safeguards on meat and animal feed by an independent international panel, made up of five scientists from Europe, New Zealand and the United States. It has recommended that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) test all high-risk cattle, such as those that die on farms or are too ill to walk, and also do random sampling of healthy cattle more than 30 months old.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW International Maritime Organisation convention will – upon ratification – tell ships to better manage ballast water releases, preventing transported species escaping into alien waters where they may cause ecological havoc. Ships would also record ballast water collection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVELY gloomy forecast for the future of the European Union (EU) coal industry has been issued by the European Commission, underlining its determination to press for closures of most unprofitable mines to trim Brussels’ and Member States’ state aid budgets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) electricity federation Eurelectric has called for the creation of a pan-EU market for renewable energy, that avoids relying on long-term subsidies such as grid feed-in laws, used in countries such as Germany.

The group has released a report warning that if the EU’s renewable energy directive’s 2010 targets on production and consumption are met, “a very substantial level of expenditure will result if the existing direct support schemes continue.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has called for a moratorium on new pollution control proposals from the European Commission, claiming that national governments have quite enough new European Union (EU) legislation to absorb and administer already. Overwhelmingly backing a non-binding report on the Commission’s recent policy paper on integrated pollution prevention and control, MEPs called on the Commission and ministers “not to supplement or expand the relevant legislation at present.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EURATOM has released its 2002 report on inquiries carried out by its European Commission officials tasked with checking the safety and security of nuclear installations across the European Union (EU); although the paper’s conclusions was generally satisfactory, it notes a number of problems detected that required resolution.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL financial experts have concluded that the insurance industry is particularly vulnerable to being exploited by money launderers, calling for an in depth study into how organised crime is abusing the sector.

A report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has concluded it is “necessary to better understand how and to what degree the various parts of the insurance sector could be used by money launderers.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INITIAL results from the world’s largest ever study into whether mobile phone use causes cancer suggest that the technology is safe. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says that research carried out in Denmark, forming part of the global INTERPHONE study, has concluded: “Use of a cell phone for 10 years or more did not increase acoustic neuroma risk over that of short term users.…