Search Results for: Climate change

BY MARK ROWE

THE UKRAINE is a key player in any effective plan for guaranteeing European Union (EU) energy security without tugging forelocks in Moscow’s direction. And while the country actually has 395 million barrels of proven oil reserves (the majority located in the eastern Dnieper-Donetsk basin), attention has recently focussed on the potential and actual role of the country’s six refineries as a reliable source of product internationally.…

By Alan Osborn

Once again events at the European Parliament have reminded us of how easy it is to brush aside things like common-sense and good financial management when a nation’s self-regard is at stake.

The issue came up recently when a roof collapsed in the parliament’s building in Strasbourg in France so that the assembly was obliged to hold two plenary sessions at its other headquarters in Brussels. Because the parliament didn’t have to move a travelling circus of MEPs, officials, office equipment, files and all its other paraphernalia across to the French city, it saved between Euros 3 to 4 million in operating costs.…

By Keith Nuthall

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the globe’s deal making forum. When conspiracy theorists claim the there is a plot to create a world government, they often accuse the WTO as being a nascent international authority. And guess what? They have a point. WTO agreements are global in scope, and enforceable within the organisation’s disputes settlement procedures.

And so member governments have to obey. If a dispute settlement body panel rules that a government is breaking a WTO rule, then they must change a policy or even a law, if it is at fault. And this would apply even if that law itself was based on rules laid down by a regional international grouping such as the European Union (EU) or the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is considering whether to regulate the contamination of cigarettes with polonium 210, the highly radioactive substance used to murder former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. Officials are reacting to research produced in the American Journal of Public Health last month (August) confirming that trace elements are found in tobacco leaves making cigarettes.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

AS neighbours New Zealand and Australia face similar economic woes during 2008’s global financial instability, the outlook looks grim for certain sectors of the New Zealand paint and coatings industry. "The industry is going through a difficult period currently after a number of years of sustained growth," commented Brian Miller, chief executive officer of Master Painters New Zealand.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

FEW things say more about the growing enthusiasm for nuclear power than the rush of young students eager to make a career in the industry. It is happening mainly in America but other countries are now beginning to see the same development.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 attacks on the US resulted in a raft of regulations to curb terrorist financing, but seven years on Al Qaeda is still at large, has adapted to the new regulatory environment to raise funds, and morphed into an international terrorist Hydra.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MEMBER governments of the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have adopted international guidelines designed to limit the impact of deep-sea fishing on species at risk of being over-fished. The rules would apply for fishing vessels working in international waters and they call on international fishery organisations to ensure deep sea fisheries are "rigorously managed".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has effectively ordered that day time running lights be fitted to all new makes of motor vehicles from 2011. In a move that could spark opposition from the UK government on energy conservation grounds, the Commission has used its authority to write UN vehicle regulations into European Union (EU) law to make the change.…

BY MARK GODFREY

A BILLION people watched recently when China’s top two dairy companies Yili and Mengniu took the prime slot Chinese television advertisements immediately after the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics Games. Being onscreen for the most important TV event in modern Chinese history is a sign of how fast dairy has grown in a land accustomed to soy milk.…