Search Results for: International law

BY PHILIP FINE

The US Justice Department, on behalf of the country’s Internal Revenue Service, has filed suit against the US member companies of KPMG and BDO International. It says the accounting firms failed to provide the government with key tax shelter information.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
THE SRI Lankan government has announced that it is to furnish its cabinet and junior ministers with 115 new photocopiers, bought in a multi-million rupee deal from John Keells Office Automation (JKOA), part of the John Keells Holdings group, one of the country’s largest companies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s research Commissioner Philippe Busquin has backed bids by both France and Spain to host the large ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in, respectively, the cities of Cadarache and Vandellós. His support follows the announcement that Japan has formally proposed the city of Rokkasho as a site, joining Canada in making a formal application.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the development of an international utility Internet service, which will allow water companies to reduce their procurement costs by calling in bids from a wide range of suppliers.

Ondeo Nalco, a subsidiary of the French group Suez, and RWE’s Thames Water are co-operating to form a joint-venture that will offer electronic procurement, as well as information and bid management services to companies in water-related sectors.…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
THE OWNERS of the Le Clos Jordan vineyard estate in Canada’s Niagara Peninsula have commissioned Canadian architect, Frank Gehry – known primarily for his unorthodox Guggenheim Museum, in Bilbao, Spain – to design plans for a new winery set on a 137 acre site.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists based at Galway, in Ireland, has made a surprising discovery that could have significant consequences for future climate change.

The EU-sponsored Parforce research project, led by the National University of Ireland, has found that iodine vapours released by marine algae can help thicken haze and cloud layers, blocking sunlight and thereby partially offsetting global warming from greenhouse gases.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has released a draft treaty text providing the basis for the final stage of the negotiations of a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Assembled by WHO Brazilian Ambassador Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on the convention, it highlights areas of potential agreement on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, black-marketeering, taxes, and international cooperation in agricultural diversification and financial resources.…

Keith Nuthall
COTTON producers in developing countries face annual losses of some US$9.5 billion because of subsidies benefiting rich countries, according to a new report released this week at the World Bank. The world cotton industry is slumping, with average prices hitting a 30-year low of 42 cents (US$) per pound, halving the incomes of many developing country cotton producers, says the study, Production and Trade Policies Affecting the Cotton Industry, by the International Cotton Advisory Committee.…

From Alan Osborn
The European Commission has proposed changes in fishing rules to

reflect recent international agreements, new scientific advice and a ruling

by the European Court of Justice. Brussels said the adjustments were to

strengthen the sustainability of the fisheries concerned and provide EU

fishermen with the opportunities available after the latest scientific

advice.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL initiative to cleanse the polluted Barents Sea of nuclear waste has been launched, with Euro 110 million being pledged by Russia, the European Commission, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The Barents clean-up will be the first priority project of this Support Fund of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership; the sea, to the north of Russia and Norway, is commonly known as the largest repository of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in the world.…