Search Results for: South Africa

BY ALAN OSBORN and MONICA DOBIE
THE RELEASE of Euro 443 million in subsidies for European wine producers on the eve of the World Trade Organisation summit in Cancun dedicated to rooting out such payments has dismayed some New World growers while being welcomed in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) agency has concluded that chewing betel quid causes oral cancer, whether or not tobacco is included in ‘pan’ mixes especially popular with ethnic south Asians. The problem is of particular concern in the UK, which imports more betel than any country outside of Asia, (imports have doubled since the early 80’s).…

BY MARK ROWE
THE EUROPEAN Commission (EC) has been given a final deadline to respond to allegations that the British government broke European Union (EU) law during its protracted dispute with Lloyd’s of London names. A plenary session of the European Parliament today (Thur25/9) voted to give the Commission until November 15 to provide its opinion on whether the First Insurance directive was properly applied by the British government in its regulation of Lloyd’s in the 1980s and early 1990s.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced the 2003 funding from its LIFE-Environment scheme, spending Euro 69 million across Europe, with money especially supporting integrated product production and novel waste management initiatives.

In the UK, Brussels has chosen projects that include a system for the recovery and recycling of X-Ray and other PET based films by JBR Recovery, of West Bromwich (Euro 1.7 million grant), a scheme for the bioabsorption of metals from abandoned mines by the University of Wales’ Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences (Euro 667,000), and Wednesbury’s G & P Batteries’ automated battery breaking system helping end of life battery management (Euro 436,000).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SURPRISINGLY wide support for the west African plan to rid the world of cotton subsidies has been voiced at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit, in Cancun, Mexico. The Canadian and Australian governments yesterday (10 Sept) threw their developed country weight behind the plan, as did WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the diplomatic impasse crystallised at Cancun recedes into memory, the World Trade Organisation is facing what may be the sternest test of its eight year existence: can a body of 146 members actually agree comprehensive trade deals by consensus?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TOURISM once was regarded as a key to the developing world’s ills, allowing poor countries to make money out of their natural landscape and cultural attractions, but as with most success stories, there is a downside. In some countries, tourism has boomed so suddenly and aggressively, the development it has sparked has threatened to go out of control, spoiling the delights that lured tourists in the first place and creating a host of new environmental problems for governments to deal with.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
*A south-south project – backed by World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) will raise Burundi’s teledensity ratio above one per cent. It is guaranteeing Mauritius Telecom Ltd’s US$1.01 million investment in Burundi’s Africell GSM mobile network.

*An emerging international market in hosting regional and international headquarters of transnational corporations benefits developing countries, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); 829 HQs were established or relocated January 2002 to March 2003, nearly a quarter in developing countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Primate Protection League has welcomed CITES secretary general Willem Wijnstekers’s call for prosecutions over the illegal sale of four young wild gorillas from Nigeria to Malaysia, via South Africa. League chairwoman Shirley McGreal told BBC Wildlife the intervention made court action “more likely,” although she has criticised the case’s handling.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) agency has concluded that chewing betel quid causes cancer, whether or not tobacco is included in the ‘pan’ mix especially popular with ethnic south Asians. It came to the same conclusion regarding another popular chewing ingredient, the areca nut.…