Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) incoming trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has confessed to being “very worried” about the impact in Europe of World Trade Organisation (WTO) textile trade quota liberalisation at the end of this year.

Speaking yesterday (4-10) to a European Parliament hearing ahead of his taking office in November, he quoted reports warning that China could snatch 50% of the world’s textile markets, saying: “This is a huge challenge that we face”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE AMERICAN government is going into overdrive to challenge a World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel ruling that some of its cotton production subsidies and export subsidies illegally break global commerce rules. Washington has already announced an appeal against the decision on a complaint from Brazil that US subsidies have depressed global prices and enabled American exporters to unfairly elbow out competitors.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE CANADIAN government has announced a ban on labels that promote the sale of foods that are low in carbohydrates. When the rules take effect in December 2005, carbohydrate content must be listed on the nutrition table of all food and beverages packaging, but other low carb related claims will be forbidden.…

BY MARK ROWE
AT first sight they would appear to be uneasy bedfellows. On the one hand, English Heritage, the British government’s advisory body with responsibility for the care and maintenance of the country’s historic environment; on the other, the Marxist-led government of the Indian state of West Bengal.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
WORKING woman in the United States spend twice as much time doing household chores and caring for children as do working men, according to a US Department of Labour study which focused on how Americans spent their time outside of work.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRUSSELS whistle-blower and now anti-fraud MEP Paul van Buitenen has been using his new position to undermine his countrywoman competition-commissioner designate Neelie Kroes. Van Buitenen followed up a short broadside against Kroes’ commercial links at this week’s European Parliament hearing by circulating detailed allegations on paper to its press officers: these were all vigorously denied by Kroes as “unfounded and nonsensical”.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH
STAVROS Dimas, the next EU Commissioner for Environmental Affairs, was criticised as one of the weaker cards in the Barroso Commission pack when he appeared before a European Parliament hearing last week.

There was cross-party sentiment that the former Greek Industry Minister did not have sufficient experience of environmental matters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States Department of Energy (DoE) “is set to cancel work” on its six-year-old FIRE (fusion ignition research experiment), the European Commission is predicting. Its research directorate general was convinced by Anne Davies – DoE fusion energy office director – branding FIRE’s copper magnets “dead end technology”.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
DEATHS linked to asbestos exposure in the United States have skyrocketed and will continue to rise according to the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which said that 1,493 people died from asbestos in 2000, compared with 77 in 1968.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) says that European forest product consumption rose to a record 1.3 billion cubic metres in 2003-4, up 1.3% on the previous year. Its annual 2003-4 market review for the sector said that sawn softwood demand rose strongly in western Europe (up 5% to 79 million m3).…