Search Results for: Climate change

BY WILLIAM BARNES

IN Southeast Asia confectionery is important, perhaps deceptively so.

"No Asiatic regime practices the art of confectionery," opined Richard Sterling in his robust book, "The Fearless Diner."

Sterling may have been to too many Chinese-style banquets, where an abrupt finish is common.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

A NEW report produced by key European plastics industry associations has shown a decreased demand for plastics products, prompting a British MEP to call for additional European Union (EU) support of the industry.

The report, published by the European Plastics Converters, European Plastics Recyclers, the Association of Plastics Manufacturers and the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations, showed the first decreased demand for plastics in decades, because of the global recession.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

IN the Persian Gulf, the traditional dress of the ‘dishdasha’ or ‘thobe’ is still a staple of most men’s wardrobes. In the region’s short, three- to four-month winter the typically white cotton dishdasha is replaced by light wools and cashmere dishdashas, with the season’s trend influenced by the Gulf’s monarchical rulers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NORTH American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries the USA, Canada and Mexico have agreed a detailed communiqué on future cooperation in climate change. This includes working together in reducing oil and gas industry greenhouse gas emissions, (notably cutting flaring), developing "comparable" methods on greenhouse gas reporting and compatible emissions trading systems.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

A NEW crisis over the presence of genetically modified (GM) ingredients in food and livestock feed has once more focused attention on the European Union’s (EU’s) controversial GM policies. It has especially raised the spectre of job losses, farm bankruptcies and higher consumer prices if a relaxation of the current de facto zero tolerance restriction applying to unauthorised GM products is not agreed soon.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EMERGENCY powers helping European dairy producers in current and future market crises has been proposed by the European Commission, which says that dairy prices are finally climbing. Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg today, European Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel noted: "The average EU milk price rose by almost two per cent in August."…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

FOLLOWING the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Israel was quick to come out and identify itself with the ensuing US-led ‘war on terror’. This was not surprising, given the Arab-Israeli conflict and the attacks Israel has sustained from militant Palestinian groups.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IT is a little like the election of a Pope. The five-yearly reappointment of the European Commission – now underway – is shrouded in complex procedure and murky backroom deals. Closed discussions between Europe’s power-brokers in Brussels offices, embassies and national capitals divide up the available positions – currently there are 27: one per member state.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

REAPPLYING perfume ten times a day may not count as an addiction, but the ingredients found in your favourite scent could certainly lead to one: cosmetic ingredients have been historically targeted by clandestine drug manufacturers as sources of chemicals used to produce illicit street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

KEY elements of the European Union (EU) dye industry should be exempt from the EU’s plans to auction carbon dioxide emissions permits from 2013. The European Commission unveiled September 18 a draft list of businesses it fears could relocate to jurisdictions with weaker pollution rules.…