Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CATTLE disease responsible for the destruction of millions of head of cattle and other hoofed livestock should be declared extinct within the next 18 months, with global cooperation the key to success. The United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Office International des Épizooties (OIE) – the world animal health organisation – are preparing to announce that rinderpest has disappeared.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE NEXT few years are likely to see several countries accede to the European Union (EU), with significant implications for the personal care sector. Local producers of toiletries, detergents and cosmetics, as well as multinationals in a number of countries, are closely following the negotiations conducted by their governments.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

PIRACY has increased exponentially off the coast of Somalia in recent years, with ships hijacked deep into international waters despite the presence of a multi-national naval task force, and pirates demanding ever higher ransoms from shipping companies. But while the spoils of piracy are evident in coastal Somali towns, tracking down where the remaining millions of dollars disappear to is hard to pin down, with allegations circulating of ransom money entering the real estate markets of Kenya, to money laundering in Yemen and Dubai.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations has started coordinating the training and education of a wasted human resource in Nepal – former teenage soldiers serving in the Maoist side of the recent civil war. Around 3,000 young men and women aged under 16 were found in the ranks of the Maoist army when a ceasefire was announced in May 2006.…

BY GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE

A CONTINUING flow of seriously injured people continue to provide deep challenges to nurses at the Port-au-Prince’s barely functioning hospitals, nearly two weeks after a massive earthquake overwhelmed medical staff.

We try to do the best we can," said Enid Paret, a nurse at the University Hospital, the Haitian capital’s largest, which was damaged by the quake but still operates.…

By Mitch Vandenborn, International News Services

As the international community converges on Haiti, many are fearful that the small Caribbean country will become another victim of promised international aid that falters amongst bickering and petty squabbles between donor countries and agencies.

But, in truth, this disaster could serve as a model for international aid done right, with large scale cooperation and organisation that not only relieves the immediate suffering of the Haitian people, but reestablishes the shattered remains of their infrastructure and society.

The European Union (EU) council on foreign affairs has already issued a statement asking for a “EU-wide response to post-emergency rehabilitation and recovery.”

The council also insisted on the need for an assessment on the “long-term development needs of Haiti, which makes full use of all resources, expertise and funding available from EU and Member States.”…

By Alan Osborn and Mitch Vandenborn, International News Services

BY MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL

THIS April, the UK will launch a feed-in tariff for electricity, which the government said will accelerate take-up of green energy among the general public. According to the European Commission’s energy directorate-general, the European Union (EU) already uses at least 20% more energy than is justified, which has led to twin concerns – the need to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and to encourage consumers to switch to green energy tariffs and sources.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) imports of dyes, textile finishing chemicals, clothing and textiles from Fiji and Papua New Guinea will all become duty free under a new trade agreement negotiated with their governments by the European Commission. Under a schedule released by Brussels, imports by these Pacific states of EU textile and clothing imports will also become duty free: immediately in the case of Papua New Guinea and with tariffs phased out between 2018 and 2023 for Fiji.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IF a global poll was taken to identify the best known international organisation, the Egmont Group would be lucky to get a mention, despite it linking 116 financial intelligence units (FIU) worldwide.

It is partly to raise profile that the group last June appointed its first chair, Luis Urrutia, who heads Mexico’s FIU.…