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AN INTERNATIONAL higher education conference has underlined the major progress made in building links between the universities of neighbouring countries in Latin America. But it also highlighted the significant remaining challenges facing Latin American higher education if it wants to be truly integrated with tertiary institutions worldwide.…

EVEN if the heated political debate over the reform of the European Union’s (EU) common agricultural policy (CAP) has cooled off in Brussels after the final agreement reached in September, the European Commission is still thrashing out the practical rules on how the policy will be implemented.…

Industrial minerals companies have been asked to apply for European Union (EU) funded research projects associated with the new EU Horizon 2020 R&D programme that will spend around Euro EUR80 billion between 2014 and 2020.

In a detailed call for proposals, the European Commission has asked for study proposals on raw materials and reusing and recovering waste.…

The non-ferrous metal sector in China is bracing itself for significant changes in regulation in 2014 as a result of November’s third plenary session of the 18^th central committee of the ruling Communist Party of China. It agreed a sweeping reform agenda, the implications of which are already being felt.…

THE POST-MORTEM inspection of pigs across the European Union (EU) is to change from next year to omit currently required palpations and incisions. This follows European Union (EU) agriculture ministers agreeing to change EU rules on such work at a meeting on Tuesday (December 17) in Brussels.…

NEW national origin labelling rules for pork, sheep, goat and poultry meat made in the European Union (EU) could reduce the trade in meat products between the 28 EU countries, EU senior meat industry figures have warned. In a joint statement, Jean-Luc Mériaux, secretary general of the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union (UECBV) and Detlef Stachetzki, manager at the German meat industry federation (VDF – Verband der Fleischwirtschaft) said: “The rule gives rise to the belief of EU citizens that products produced in their own country are better/safer/healthier/ than the products from other countries.”…

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ASOS

Fashion retailer ASOS showed online convenience and price are still a winning combination with shoppers. The UK-based online retailer continued its impressive trajectory this year, announcing pre-tax profit had reached GBP54.7m (US$88.3m) for the year ending 31 August, compared to GBP40m in the same period of last year, with retail sales jumping 40% to GBP753.8m, up from GBP537.9m last year. …

THE LAST few years have brought significant changes to the apparel sourcing landscape in Asia. The era of Chinese low-cost apparel manufacturing is well behind us, and several countries have stepped up to claim their part of the manufacturing pie.

Apparel industry analysts say that although China’s dominance continues, a clear segmentation in Asia is now taking place.…

THE DIPLOMATIC stand-off between the European Union (EU) and Russia over their respective links to Ukraine throws into stark light the EU’s desire to secure energy security of supply and to decrease its reliance on an unpredictable Russian government. These needs were reflected in the announcement in October of a list of 248 energy infrastructure projects that the EU wants built in in the next decade, all in some way connecting EU member countries through electricity, gas and oil links.…

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has struggled for 12 years since the launch of its Doha Development Round in 2001 to secure a global agreement promoting world commerce. And while many of the issues debated under the Doha process remain out of reach – most notably an agreement on reducing food production subsidies and tariffs – it has now struck a deal on cutting trade red tape.…