Search Results for: Switzerland

BY LEE ADENDORFF

ITALY: Poor funding and weak competition stunt Italian universities

Lee Adendorff

Full report on the University World News site

ITALY: Poor funding and weak competition stunt Italian universities

Lee Adendorff

Despite being home to Europe’s oldest higher education university, Italy has fared less than brilliantly in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) rankings.…

BY DAVE YIN

A GENE discovery in Lagotto Romagnolo dogs, which traditionally function as game water retrievers and truffle hunters, could shed light on the cause of human benign childhood epilepsies, according to an European Union (EU)-funded study.

The finding was made as part of the LUPA project, which aims to better understand human diseases through the research of dogs, who suffer from the same ailments despite having simpler genetics.…

BY WANG FANGQING

CHINESE consumers just cannot hold themselves back from spending money on luxuries it would appear, and the personal care product industry is reaping the benefit.

From February 2010 to March 2011, the Chinese had spent an accumulated amount of USD10.7 billion on luxuries (excluding automobiles, yachts and private jets) in domestic sales alone, about 25% of global luxury consumption, reported the World Luxury Association (WLA) in June 2011.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

With the global textile and clothing industry this year emerging from a deep slump, it is perhaps understandable that there were going to be unexpected twists and turns in the sector during 2010. Of course, the fashion business is always colourful, and attracts characters and innovation.…

BY JOHN PAGNI

THE NORD Stream natural gas pipeline, linking Russia with Germany, is not just making political waves, but inspiring technological innovations. Its developers appear to be taking environmental issues seriously. This could appease the project’s doubters.

When completed by the end of 2012, two parallel pipelines will stretch 1,224 kilometres from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald on Germany’s Baltic coast, linking with EU networks, notably those run by DONG Energy (Denmark), Germany’s E.ON…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PERSONAL care product sector should benefit from a new Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), now largely negotiated. A draft text has been released by the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Switzerland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

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A UNITED Nations campaign could – if successful – significantly increase worldwide demand for soap. Its Global Handwashing Day has highlighted how diarrhoeal and acute respiratory diseases kill 3.5 million children aged under five annually, and that washing their hands after using toilets and before handling food can reduce such deaths by 40% and 23% respectively.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

TARGETED investments aimed at improving energy self-sufficiency and efficiency maybe the key result of a grand European Union (EU) ‘Energy 2020’ strategy, released this month (November 10) by the European Commission. Building on existing reforms to liberalise and green EU energy production and delivery, the policy paper proposes ensuring energy efficiency is a criteria of public procurement by member states, and also that energy efficiency certificates are created to encourage sustainable energy investment by industry.…

BY MAKKI MARSEILLES, PAUL COCHRANE

CYPRIOTS are Europe’s heaviest smokers, according to figures from European Union (EU) pollsters Eurobarometer. For those living in the internationally recognised predominantly Greek Republic of Cyprus (RoC) portion of the island, consumption of consumers aged 15 and above during 2009 averaged 21.7 cigarettes daily, and those in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus 21.6.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON, MJ DESCHAMPS

IT is the classic chicken and egg scenario. To what extent do widespread networks of fuel filling stations need to be established offering compressed and liquefied natural gas (CNG/LNG) for a mass market of autos using these fuels to develop?…