Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SLOVENIAN government has tabled compromise proposals to break the current political logjam at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers over gas supply unbundling. As current EU president, Slovenia has suggested for instance that some joint ownership of energy producing and transmission utilities could occur if there were "additional safeguards" preventing conflicts of interest, and guaranteeing the "structural independence of decision making" by distribution operators.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) seven-year-old Doha Development Round maybe drawing towards a close, the plastics industry might start considering that a final deal may lead to the elimination of most import duties on its products worldwide.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) challenge to new Canadian cheese production rules is now increasingly likely, with the European Union (EU), the United States and New Zealand formally expressing dismay at a WTO agriculture committee meeting. Speaking today (18-3) in Geneva, New Zealand diplomats claimed Canada’s new "compositional standards" for cheese – which enter into force on December 13 – defy global Codex Alimentarius guidelines.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel has ruled that United States anti-dumping duties on shrimp exports from Thailand break WTO fair trade rules and will have to be amended or scrapped.

ENDS…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BANNING of all imports and exports of mercury in and out of the European Union (EU) has been supported by the European Parliament’s environment committee. And in tabling amendments introducing a ban by December 2010 through a proposed EU regulation on mercury by December 2010, the committee is on a collision course with the EU Council of Ministers.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by the UK government that it intends to build a new generation of nuclear power plants stands out, not just because of the scale of the proposals, but because it is the first such comprehensive initiative in Europe for some years.…

BY MARK ROWE

LIKE the majority of industries in Thailand, the paint and coatings sector has endured a roller coaster ride in recent years. Having put the disruption caused by the 1997 financial crisis firmly behind it, the military coup of 2006 further unsettled affairs.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Hokkaido, northern Japan

THE LEADERS of the Group of Eight (G8) nations are meeting in the Hokkaido, Japan, town of Toyako (NOTE: Spelling is correct – NOT Tokyo) July 7-9, with the environment and energy top of the agenda.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The Bologna process was launched in 1999 with great fanfare and hopes for a brave new world within European higher education, but the initiative involved a leap of faith by universities and colleges. For although it makes good sense that the 46 countries now taking part should have higher education systems sufficiently compatible to improve collaboration and course exchanges, such a limited goal was never going to be enough.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing

METHANE recovery is a boom industry in China. A frenetic dig for coal to drive its economy means atmospheric concentrations of methane are growing. And this is a problem – methane is not only a greenhouse gas that retains 25 times more heat than carbon dioxide, it hangs around in the atmosphere a lot longer.…