Search Results for: South Africa

BY ALAN OSBORN
BRITAIN is not normally thought of being subject to landslides and avalanches in the way that Alpine countries are, but the coming of climate change has made these natural disasters a real and potentially very expensive threat to us.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank has announced a US$140 million grant and loan package to improve west African food production, notably confectionary ingredient export quality. The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme will for instance establish a centre of excellence in Ghana for researching tree crops (cocoa, coffee, cashew, palm tree, rubber tree, Arabic gum, shea nut and mangoes).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DESPITE the increase in global prices for coal since 2003, European Union (EU) coal producing countries still need to restructure their industries, a detailed European Commission survey has noted. Highlighting the increase in spot price for South African steam coal from US$36 in early 2003 to US$74 at the end of 2004, the report cited higher freight rates for Australian coal caused by rising demand in China and solid demand in Japan and South Korea, enabling “traditional suppliers” to the Atlantic market to raise their prices.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE METEROLOGICAL Office, the UK’s national weather service, the Met Office, has launched a new version of its satellite-distribution weather advice service. The new upgraded SADIS2G (second generation) is being rolled out to air traffic control units (ATCs) and will gradually supersede the existing SADIS system.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ International Seabed Authority has postponed agreement of new regulations governing how mining companies would explore and exploit deep seawaters for hauls such as polymetallic sulphide nodules and cobalt-rich crusts. These mineral resources are rich in copper, iron, zinc, silver, gold and cobalt, with the sulphides being found around volcanic areas and the crusts on oceanic ridges.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) is turning to witch doctors to help it battle sub-Saharan Africa’s ever-deepening HIV/AIDS crisis, using their influence as traditional health practitioners to promote prevention. It wants to train and encourage these important community figures to advise local families to adopt sensible precautions against the disease, dropping some harmful customs and practices.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ International Seabed Authority has delayed agreement of new regulations governing how metal ore mining companies would explore and exploit deep seawaters for hauls such as polymetallic sulphide nodules and cobalt-rich crusts. These mineral resources are rich in copper, iron, zinc, silver, gold and cobalt; sulphides are found around volcanic areas and crusts on oceanic ridges.…

BY MARK ROWE
ON Boxing Day 2004, as the shockwaves from the tsunami rolled out across the Indian Ocean, one very important procedure quietly went according to plan. Detectors at the Indira Gandhi Kalpakkam power station on India’s east coast sensed the rising water levels and automatically shut the plant down.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
QUACKERY is not the kind of medical practice that pharmaceutical manufacturers might expect the World Health Organisation (WHO) to promote, but facing sub-Saharan Africa’s ever-increasing AIDS/HIV emergency, it will use any resource. It is not that WHO officials are recommending goats be buried in the front garden of any African HIV patient, but they are asking for the help of traditional health practitioners to promote standard prevention efforts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LEBANON has an international reputation far greater than its geographical size and population, much like its national debt. At US$38 billion it is equivalent to over a 100% of the country’s GDP, with a significant chunk of this staggering sum attributed directly to corruption and commercial crime.…