Search Results for: japan

BY MARK ROWE

THE PSYCHOLOGY of colour has fascinated philosophers and scientists down the ages, so it is perhaps unsurprising that the world’s paint companies devote much of their time to working out why consumers prefer certain colours for certain everyday items – and why these tastes vary so much across the world.…

By Alan Osborn

The 27 EU governments have moved to improve the working conditions and career prospects of their researchers by approving measures designed to provide them with "real social recognition and a satisfactory standard of living." The text of a communication agreed by EU competitiveness ministers on September 26th pledges governments to "making the labour market for European researchers more open and competitive (and) providing better career structures, transparency and family-friendliness."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DESPITE widespread scepticism about its viability, the ITER project to build the world’s first commercial nuclear fusion reactor is now under way. It is employing specialists (nearly 300 staff and rising at the end of 2008); releasing Euro millions in research and procurement funding; and in November moved into its headquarters, in Cadarache, southern France, which is where the first nuclear fusion reactor will be built on a 180 hectare site.…

BY WANG FANGQING

THE HONGHE Group and the Hongyun Group, the two major Chinese tobacco companies located in the key tobacco-growing Yunnan province have recently (WHEN EXACTLY?) submitted a merger agreement to the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), the Beijing-based industry watchdog.…

BY MARK GODFREY

GIVEN the armies of migrant workers slapping millions of litres of paint onto the walls of spanking new hotels and creaking 1950s apartment blocks in and around Beijing during the preparations for the Olympic Games it is not surprising that paint demand in China currently outstrips that of India by five times, in tonnage used.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR

EXPLOSIVES screening procedures, like most security measures at international airports in Japan, follow the lead of the United States’ Transportation Security Administration (TSA). However, airport operators are somewhat less than satisfied with the performance of the current generation of certified explosive detection systems (EDS) or explosive trace detection systems (ETD).…

BY MARK GODFREY

RUSSIA may have invaded Georgia this August, but its wine industry seems almost gung-ho about the import embargo on Georgian wines that the Russian government has imposed since 2006. It has proven a "huge stimulus" to local winemakers to improve quality, according to the head of a project tasked with opening new markets for the country’s wines.…

BY ANDREW CAVE and KARRYN MILLER

FACING a looming energy crisis, the battle to produce lithium ion batteries to power hybrid and battery cars is heating up. Germany’s Robert Bosch and Samsung of South Korea recently formed a joint venture SB LiMotive Co to compete with the likes of BorgWarner, Johnson Controls, TRW and Continental.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

OFFICIALS at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have told just-food.com an attempt to quickly restart and resolve the Doha Development Round’s food talks seems to have failed. Senior government civil servants from the Group of Seven (the USA, the European Union, China, India, Japan, Australia and Brazil), who broadly represent all WTO member countries, had flown to Geneva last week.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF has opened an office in China, boosting Sino-European cooperation in the fight against tobacco smuggling and counterfeiting. Indeed, an OLAF communiqué said the key focus of this initiative will be cigarette smuggling, because of the continued boom in contraband cigarettes being sent from China to the EU.…