Search Results for: Czech Republic

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A POLITICAL battle is underway at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers over whether EU import duties on unwrought aluminium should be retained or scrapped. The struggle pits Poland and eight other member states against Germany, which wants the current 6% duties retained.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg, South Africa and DAVID HAWORTH, in Taiwan

TRADITIONAL health care systems do not always get a good press, being accused of incorporating superstition and poor medical practice. To some western public health advocates, they are akin to bringing back the leach.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

WIND power is Europe’s big growth area for electricity generation, according to the latest comparative figures from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat, with capacity growing by 154% between 2000 and 2004. Its report noted wind power "is responsible for more than half of the new generating capacity" in these years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has announced plans to help (Greek) Cyprus and the Czech Republic improve their water utility standards to ensure compliance with the European Union (EU) urban wastewater treatment directive. In the Czech Republic, the bank wants to funnel up to CZK 5,200 million (Euro 182 million) through the national agricultural ministry to improve rural water supply and disposal systems.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

OVER the last five years the Middle East and North Africa region has firmly joined the global effort to fight money laundering and terrorist financing by setting up national financial intelligence units and a regional watchdog, the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENA-FATF).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has promised that its institutions will cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), even exchanging information with its investigators. The cooperation agreement that will come into force on May 1 involves creating a central EU contact point for the ICC.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has underlined its determination to forge a European Union (EU) energy policy with substance by a slew of legal actions against member states over renewables, liberalisation and biofuels. Brussels has started proceedings against Britain, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic for failing to report progress under the 2001 directive promoting renewable energy sources.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CZECH Republic is invoking emergency clauses in its accession agreement with the European Union (EU) to block poultry imports from other member states which have been hit by bird flu. Speaking on Radio Prague, agriculture minister Jan Mladek said his government had requested the necessary approval from the European Commission for waiving standard intra-EU free trade guarantees.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) is paying Euro 5 million to install a dust filter at the Kostolac coal-fired power station, in eastern Serbia. Dust particles currently emitted are up to 23 times higher than allowed in the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MASS production of a vaccine to fight the H5N1 bird flu strain in humans could begin within a year, after pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline launched clinical trials in Germany and Belgium.

The company is testing two vaccines: the first would be targeted at fighting a pandemic after an outbreak; the second aimed at advance inoculations.…