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BY KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN, MONICA DOBIE AND PHILIP FINE

IF there is one striking characteristic about Washington’s Bush Administration, it must be its almost unprecedented ability to infuriate the entire world with its unilateralism, especially its self-serving trade policies.

For years, the US government has actually played Mary Poppins on food production subsidies, claiming that its handouts do not encourage farmers to overproduce when prices are low.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPEAN Commission energy officials have welcomed a recent joint declaration on natural gas by presidents Putin, of Russia, and Kuchma, of the Ukraine, as a “vital first step” in agreeing funnelling investment into improving the legal, safety and technical aspects of transporting Russian natural gas to the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s industry committee has approved a European Commission proposal that the European Union and Euratom should sign up to the International Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.…

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 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 KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has complained to a key World Trade Organisation committee that its beef imports are being unfairly restricted by the USA because of concerns that they are contaminated with BSE. It has claimed at the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee that the US should not, for example, be insisting on the onsite inspection of Swiss meat plants, because the Office International des Épizooties has classified Switzerland as having a low incidence the disease.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
A PIONEERING Australian stem cell company is teaming up with an international Japanese biopharmaceutical firm to build Japan’s first dedicated embryonic stem cell company. The expansion into Japan is part of Melbourne-based Stem Cell Sciences’ strategy to create a global cell therapy company.…

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.…

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
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed he creation of a new Euro 13 million per annum scheme to monitor the health of Europe’s forests. Assuming it is approved by European Union ministers, the programme would initially run from January 2003 until December 2008.…