Search Results for: Climate change

BY ALAN OSBORN, in London
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered a study of the merits of inter-specific vines, or hybrids, signalling the possible future acceptance of such vines in the European Union wine industry. Until now EU regulations have banned their use for

appellation wines, largely because of pressure from France and other countries anxious to preserve the “pure” traditional varieties grown in natural habitats.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved a proposed regulation tightening and harmonising EU food and animal feed controls. As it informally agreed amendments in advance with EU ministers, the law is now expected to be rubber-stamped. One change insists that national governments erect “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” sanctions to breaches of these controls and another says relevant information held by food authorities must be publicised quickly, except data “covered by professional secrecy”.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
A NEW volcanic gas and ash detector created by Australian scientists could enable the airport and airline industries to save both money and lives. The ‘Ground-based Infra-Red Detection’ (G-bIRD) system is being developed by Australia’s CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) and the country’s Tenix Defence Electronic Systems division.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled long-awaited proposals on boosting the security of energy supplies within the European Union (EU), and although the package does not table binding targets on infrastructure, it has been criticised by environmentalists. Brussels has proposed committing Member States to “clearly defined policy towards the supply-demand balance”, which “allows for targets” on reserve capacity.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD WIDE Fund for Nature (WWF) has warned that the eight eastern European countries joining the European Union in May are failing to exploit their potential renewable energy capacity, making it harder for some to comply with the EU’s renewable energy directive.…

BY PHILIP FINE

GAP Inc has joined a group of American corporations that have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The clothing retailer, which also owns the Banana Republic and Old Navy brands, last month signed on to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Leaders’, a group that now numbers 54.…

BY RICHARD HURST
Nigeria is widely regarded as the country as the hub of money-laundering activities in the region, despite having a reasonably comprehensive set of anti-money laundering laws in place. Press and non-governmental organisation reports have highlighted cases where Nigerian banks have been hit by money launderers trying to conceal illicit earnings from corruption, the arms trade, narcotics and the e-mail frauds.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is proposing to harmonise legislation authorising the procedures for marketing the sophisticated manufacturing processes involved in human tissue engineering. The first products being developed in this growing field include artificial skin, cartilage and bone. Brussels said that the novel technology required to make these products promised to change medical practice “profoundly” by regenerating diseased tissues and organs instead of just repairing them.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
MAJOR changes in European Union (EU) legislation that could vitally affect the meat processing industry are in prospect this year with the main elements likely to be agreed before the summer break. The outstanding single item according to Jean-Luc Meriaux – general secretary of the European Livestock and Meat Union – is the so-called “hygiene package” of three regulations and a directive which will be considered by the European Parliament at its second (and usually final) reading in March.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SUPPORT has been secured within the European Parliament for a proposed increase in the borrowing ceiling for the European Union’s (EU) nuclear energy arm Euratom, raising it from the current Euro 400 million to 600 million. The approval did not come without strings however, with MEP’s calling for Euratom to be restricted in its spending of this money to projects improving safety, decommissioning plants or establishing storage and disposal facilities for radioactive waste and spent fuel.…