Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL

COMMONWEALTH secretary-general Don McKinnon has welcomed Britain and France’s decision to raise billions of dollars for health and education in developing countries by floating bonds on financial markets. "This is a bold and major step forward in raising resources," he said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BY KEITH NUTHALL

UNEP – RISK MANAGEMENT

A BOOK detailing practical ways in which governments can reduce the costs of dealing with major challenges such bird flu, terrorism and climate change has been released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London

THE POLITICAL institutions of the European Union (EU) are debating how to join an international system that would protect EU manufacturers’ design rights across a wide range of non-European countries in one simple operation. In an initiative that could help auto manufacturers secure the creative aspects of their vehicle design from plagiarism, the European Commission wants to link the EU’s existing Community Design system, (which protects manufacturers’ designs within the 25 EU member states), to a global design registration system run by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a UN agency.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has responded positively to the European Parliament’s call for a new EU directive to promote heating and cooling from renewable energy sources. Speaking to MEPs last week (14-2), Piebalgs announced he would propose new legislation this year.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

Fact box – Andorra

Population of country: 76,875 (2004)

Number of students enrolled at university: 718

Percentage of students native to the country where the university is located: 60%

Percentage of eligible population attending university: 10% (see text)

INTERNVIEW

IT’S something of a surprise to find that a country as small as Andorra has its own university, and perhaps easy to be a little patronising about it.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NEW EFSA BOSS BUDGET ROW – LATEST ADVICE

THE FRENCHWOMAN appointed to take the vacant top executive director job at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will need all her political skills to solve a potential budget crisis facing the agency.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

THE NUMBER of Syrians studying in the US has dropped a steep 32% over the past five years, with sometimes-criticised universities in Syria the direct beneficiaries, even attracting foreign students from around the Middle East.

The move comes as Arab students are increasingly shunning top ranked US universities because of anger about its government’s foreign policy, and as Syria’s ossified university system opens up to the private sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) finance ministers have agreed to add district heating to the list of sectors for which member states can levy an optional reduced 5.5% VAT rate until 2010. The agreement was struck after Poland lifted its opposition to a deal following a dispute over social housing VAT.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DEBATES are continuing in European Union (EU) institutions over whether vaccination is a safe response to Europe’s growing bird flu problem. With Germany, France, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy and other countries all reporting cases, the EU’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health approved the first vaccination campaigns.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the acquisition of sole control of France’s Safic Alcan natural products division by British sugar commodity trader E D & F Man Holdings, trading as Man.

ENDS…