Search Results for: Russia

BY KEITH NUTHALL

LAST May, a coordinated attack on essential computer networks in the tiny Baltic republic of Estonia set nerves upon edge amongst European Internet security specialists. Following the removal of a Russian war memorial from the centre of its capital Tallinn, a still unidentified group of computer users bombarded Estonian political, government, media and banking websites with so much data, they were forced offline.…

BY MARK ROWE

YOU are a young, thrusting oil company, sitting on vast reserves and anticipating an even more lucrative future. You’re looking to make a statement about your position in the world. What do you do? In the case of Gazprom Neft, you build a new mini-city.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

TRANSPARENCY International, the business and government openness campaigner, has attacked international oil companies for being secretive about commercial dealings. It lumped Exxon-Mobil with Russia’s Lukoil and China National Petroleum Corporation in its assessment as ‘low performers’ who usually disclose information by larger geographical areas, providing "almost no additional information relevant to revenue transparency".*…

BY PHILIPPA JONES, in Paris

"FISHING is much more than fish," said former US president Herbert Hoover. "It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers." This may have been the case in the 1930s and may remain so for weekend anglers, who forget about the week’s stresses sitting quietly by the side of a lake.…

By Keith Nuthall

The services negotiations of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round – which could create openings for universities, colleges and research institutes to open branches in foreign countries – are reaching a critical juncture.

A report on the talks by their chair, Mexico’s ambassador to the WTO Fernando de Mateo has been released, as diplomats are considering trading removing restrictions on foreign services for reductions in tariffs and subsidies on food, drink and industrial goods.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ENVIRONMENTAL impact of the proposed Russia-to-Germany Baltic Sea pipeline should be "carefully investigated" and alternative overland routes considered first, the European Parliament petitions committee has said. Responding to concerns of Polish and Lithuanian environmentalists, the committee concluded if an undersea Nord Stream pipeline did pose real and serious environmental risk, EU institutions and member states should "use every legal means" to prevent its construction.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONCERNS that antibacterial cleaning products are weakening the natural immunity of children against diseases will be assessed by Euro 6 million research project involving 7,000 children in Finland, Estonia and north-western Russia’s Karelia. All three test areas have similar ethnic backgrounds, but widely differing standards of living and domestic cleanliness.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing

WORRIES about inflation and food shortages have left the Chinese government struggling to balance efforts to temper inflation with its ambitious biofuels development programme. Increasing demand for food and biofuels in China have been a key driver in increasing global consumption of fats and oils at an average 4% per year according to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FIRST meeting of a European Union-Russia Permanent Partnership Council on Research (in Ljubljana, Slovenia) has confirmed that discussions are under way to forge joint EU-Russian research projects on nuclear fission topics. These initiatives would be co-funded by Moscow and Brussels and be subject for formal calls for proposals from interested parties.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has agreed to fund with US$8.63 million an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-coordinated project to decommission Serbia’s ageing Vinca Institute research reactor. Work will start with repackaging old Soviet nuclear fuel for repatriation to Russia for reprocessing.…