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BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has lifted quotas and tariffs restricting imports of clothing products from the Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Bosnia. This follows a promise from these countries that they would reduce tariff and quota barriers restricting the export of EU-made clothing products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States and the European Union are poised for another battle of wits at the World Trade Organisation, over the rights of governments to protect their own audio-visual sectors, especially through the use of subsidies.

WTO members are about to examine in detail proposals made by the USA on the liberalisation of the international audio-visual sector, which it wants to promote through the ongoing WTO round on service industries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and Morocco have failed to strike an agreement which would allow Spanish and Portuguese fishing boats to take catches in Moroccan waters, bringing to an unsuccessful end six months of detailed discussions. The result is that the previous agreement, which expired in 1999, and which allowed 500 European boats to exploit catches including tuna and shrimp, is not expected to be renewed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERPOL has launched an international 24-hour early warning system, which can alert the world’s police forces to an Internet emergency sparked by cybercrime, such as the circulation of a dangerous virus, such as the love-bug ‘worm.’ The system enables the global police agency to mobilise resources in any time-zone, alerting public authorities, which can in turn warn private companies of any risks.…

Keith Nuthall
AN APPEAL has been made at the United Nations, by the Global Environment Facility organisation, to private utilities and government organisations, asking them to invest in sustainable energy development in the world’s poorer countries

Mohamed El-Ashry, the GEF’s Chief Executive Officer was speaking at a ministerial meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADA and the US have failed to solve the looming softwood lumber dispute at the Summit of the Americas, in Quebec City.

The US International Trade Commission will probably now hear claims by the American timber industry that Canada has flooded the US with cheap timber illegally and investigate how it contributed to the closure of 150 American lumber mills.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union countries are still achieving economic growth at the cost of exhausting the world’s natural energy and mineral resources, a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) has claimed.

Based on data for years up to 1997, the agency concludes that: “EU countries have made little progress towards preventing economic growth from translating into higher natural resources use.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A TEST to detect counterfeit Cuban cigars has been developed by scientists at Canada Customs where fakes are smuggled in by the thousands by Canadian tourists travelling to Cuba.

The test detects the unique chemical structure found in tobacco leaves grown and processed in Cuba and are compared to counterfeits that do not have the same chemical signature.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A REPORT on the world’s environmental concerns by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD), has claimed that “tropical deforestation continues at alarming rates,” saying that “non-OECD regions, (developing countries), will lose another 10 per cent of their forests by 2020.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has lifted all quotas on imports of clothing products from Ukraine, following confirmation that Ukraine has lowered its tariff levels for EU textile exports, as agreed last year.

Brussels has also removed restrictive textile quotas for Sri Lankan clothing exports.…