Search Results for: Russia

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRESH from the European Commission’s brokering of an energy accord for south-eastern Europe, its energy Commissioner is now turning to the Baltic as a region where cooperation can be intensified. Latvian Andris Piebalgs supported strengthening the work carried out by the 11-country BASREC (Baltic Sea Region Energy Co-operation), at a ministerial conference of the group, in Reykjavik, Iceland.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN times of conflict, cultural property, such as archaeological sites, works of art, museums and monuments, can also suffer grievously at the hands of opposing military and guerrilla forces. In recognition of this, such objects are accorded protection by the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE POLISH government has been alarmed by a call from Russia’s Gazprom to renegotiate its long-term natural gas supply contract, which is supposed to expire in 2022. Poland’s freshly-appointed prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said he was baffled by the move: “It’s hard to understand this step.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CRITICS of European political institutions have sometimes been unkind about the Council of Europe, which has been accused of being a powerless talking shop. And although the Council lacks the power to fine and cajole member governments enjoyed by the European Union (EU) – from which it is completely independent – it has some important roles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FERROUS and non-ferrous metal companies paid together millions of dollars in kickbacks to the toppled Saddam Hussein regime, the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN Iraq Oil for Food programme scandal has claimed. More than 150 suppliers of ferrous metal products ranging from carbon steel plates, steel coil, steel joists, galvanised steel cores, steel bars, steel pipes, fabricated steel and others are named in the report, as are around 50 suppliers of aluminium, copper and lead.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has acted to simplify the approval of ‘intelligent’ adaptive front-lighting systems (AFS) that boost illumination for drivers, while cutting the risk of glare for fellow motorists. It is proposing that manufacturers should bypass existing European Union (EU) complicated approval procedures for new technologies, by writing a draft United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) technical regulation for this kit into EU type-approval rules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has raised concerns about bird flu spreading to Africa, where poverty is so rife and governments so weak, eradication would be practically impossible. With the disease spreading to Croatia from Turkey and Romania (and a quarantine outbreak in Britain), the FAO’s chief veterinary officer Joseph Domenech warned of the disease taking hold in sub-Saharan Africa.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TEA companies paid hundreds of thousand of dollars in kickbacks to the toppled Saddam Hussein regime, the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN Iraq Oil for Food programme scandal has claimed. More than 200 tea suppliers from countries including India, Indonesia, Russia and Sri Lanka bribed the Iraq government to secure contracts to supply humanitarian supplies under the scheme, out of 2,200 companies named in a committee report.…

Keith Nuthall
A HEALTHY-DOSE of Nordic culture has been prescribed by the world’ premier anti-corruption organisation Transparency International, which has again hailed northern Europe as the region most free of graft, bribes and kickbacks. Such financial crime is rarest in Iceland, says the 2005 corruption rankings from the German group, with Finland and New Zealand tying at second place, Denmark, fourth, Sweden sixth, and Norway eighth.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIA’S transport minister Igor Levitin has said Russia will not abandon overflight charges paid by foreign aeroplanes flying over its territory before 2013, Moscow’s Interfax news agency has reported. Levitin said this was despite protests from the European Union, which is particularly critical of the fees being paid directly to Russia’s national carrier Aeroflot.…