Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TOUGH and detailed regulations should control the planned exploitation by the oil and gas industry of the Barents Sea, off Russia and Norway, because it could additionally pollute a delicate ecosystem already contaminated with nuclear waste, said the United Nations Environment Organisation (UNEP).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NASCENT tourism hotspot is being nurtured by the United Nations in Afghanistan, where the former Taliban government exploded the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues. The site also sports other archaeological remains and the scenic Band-i-Amir Lake, so is being visited by Kabul ex-pats Kabul and wealthier Afghans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COUNTERVAILING and antidumping duties imposed by the United States on Canadian exports of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod have been undermined by a strongly critical ruling a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel.

US International Trade Commission (ITC) inquiries leading to the tariffs’ imposition in 2002 were challenged by Canada’s Ivaco Inc and Ivaco Rolling Mills Inc.…

Keith Nuthall
THE UNITED States and Mongolia have negotiated a trade and investment framework agreement, creating a bilateral council charged with boosting the countries’ trade in textile and other goods. Mongolian textiles and clothing dominate its annual US$183.4 million exports to America.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for human flu vaccines to be given to all poultry slaughterhouse workers, following the reemergence of bird flu in three Asian countries: Vietnam, China and Thailand. The FAO said research showed the virus was more widespread than previously thought and was unlikely to be “eradicated soon”.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE USA’S Environmental Protection Agency has warned against eating more than half a serving a month of Atlantic salmon and trout raised in federal hatcheries in the north-east United States because of high levels of dioxins and PCB’s.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DESPERATE to offer Afghan farmers a lucrative alternative to growing opium poppies, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is working with French company HD Investment to develop a rose oil fragrance industry. HD has committed $100,000 in start-up funds for the enterprise, following presentations by the UNDP and Kabul-based Altai Consulting.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
BACTERIA in the digestive tracts of cows and other herbivores, that help break down the tough fibre in their diets, could be used as the base for a biological wood glue. Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in the United States have discovered that the microbes secrete a sticky outer coating that allows them to cling to a surface, similar to how cavity-causing bacteria adhere to teeth.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNIFORM global rules on the market approval of internal combustion engines in non-road mobile machinery have been approved regarding the measurement of the net power. The standard – agreed by the United Nations’ World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations – is expected to encourage manufacturers to use net rather than gross power as a yardstick.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BOOMING west African oil state Equatorial Guinea is pumping US$3.7 million into a four-year air traffic control and airport improvement project, with the help of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) advisors. The plan will strengthen ATC, restructure the country’s civil aviation authority and improve documentation handling.…