Search Results for: Global Warming⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIA’s Duma is expected to ratify the Kyoto Protocol by the end of December, following the Russian cabinet’s decision to implement the treaty. Taking ratifications past the agreed minimum of 55 countries generating at least 55% of 1990 global greenhouse emissions, a vote would ensure Kyoto is in force early next year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has launched its appeal against a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling that its sugar exporters are getting more subsidies than they should under global trade rules. However, if Brussels loses the appeal, it will not spell bad news for the European Commission.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A USA government study has admitted that global warming will cause hurricanes to become even more powerful and destructive that they have been during this year’s tropical storm season. In a comprehensive study, experts from the USA Department of Commerce’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey, have predicted hurricanes could intensify an extra half step on the established five-step scale for destructive power by the 2080s, drawing more energy from warmer seas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) is investigating concerns that the first human-to-human transmission of bird flu has occurred in Thailand, sending scientists to check two recent cases. The WHO’s influenza coordinator Dr Klaus Stöhr said they wanted to establish whether they were caused by a “non-sustained, inefficient, dead-end street human-to-human transmission,” or whether the virus had mutated sufficiently to spread rapidly amongst humans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE POULTRY sector worldwide is being threatened with a major loss of consumer confidence, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) investigating concerns that the first human-to-human transmission of bird flu has occurred in Thailand. It is sending scientists to check whether two recent cases were caused by a “non-sustained, inefficient, dead-end street human-to-human transmission,” or the virus had mutated sufficiently to spread rapidly amongst humans.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN scientists have developed the first genetic map of a cow, a breakthrough they claim will help reduce animal disease and improve the nutrition and quality of beef products. The research, performed at the Baylor College of Medicine’s Human Genome Sequencing Centre in Houston, Texas, is part of a US$53 million global project to sequence the genome of different breeds of cattle.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SMOKING is just one of five health factors that are relevant in 80% of heart attack cases, according to a Canadian-coordinated global study published in Britain’s The Lancet. The other four are high cholesterol, hypertension, obesity and diabetes, concluded the researchers who checked 15,000 medical records in 52 countries spanning all continents.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GLOBAL corruption watchdog Transparency International has confirmed Britain’s place as one of the world’s cleaner countries, ranking it 11th in its annual league table of government probity. In a report containing few surprises, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Iceland and Singapore were lauded has having the most honest governments, while the graft-ridden administrations of Nigeria, Bangladesh and Haiti were bottom of the table.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IMPACT of industry, transport and fires on atmospheric pollution has been made graphically clear by a set of global images from European Space Agency environmental satellite Envisat. The largest of its kind in the world, Envisat has produced a map of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution, showing Britain as a hotspot for this lung damaging gas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has launched work to create a global standard for corporate social responsibility, giving the Brazilian and Swedish governments the task of piloting the development of these guidelines. Detailed proposals will be shortly issued by ISO, launching three months of debates before preliminary decisions on their scope and content can be made.…