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BY MARK ROWE

A T-SHIRT that that dramatically reduces the impact of body odours with the aid of nanotechnology has been produced by the Thai company United Textile Mills. Silver nanoparticles are embedded in the fabric of the garment and are so small that they allow silver atoms to penetrate the fabric and attach strongly to the fibres, whereupon they suppress the ability of microbial cells to transfer odours.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE CONTROVERSAL Indo-US nuclear agreement on supplying latest technology and fuel to India’s civilian nuclear power plants finally got the approval from United States Senate last week.

However, in contrast to the House of Representative bill passed earlier this year, the Senate bill has added two clauses restricting re-export and insisting on the ‘end use monitoring’ on any transferred nuclear technology, which are viewed suspiciously in India.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has struck its first Asia-Pacific development deal with a major oil company – Total, of France. The UNDP and Total will collaborate on boosting poor Asia-Pacific countries’ access to clean and sustainable energy; better and more transparent corporate governance; energy efficiency; alternative energy sources; and training.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ARGENTINA government has failed to persuade a World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel to order the US to lift long-standing anti-dumping duties on Argentine exports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG). The disputes panel was examining American compliance with a 2004 ruling that the US had broken WTO rules in a sunset review of the duties in 2000, which had led to the reimposition of duties first erected in 1995.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned of a continued surge in counterfeits of cigarettes entering the European Union (EU), with more than 32.6 million fake packets seized by customs officials last year. That said, this actually represents a fall in numbers from 2004, being 78% of the 41 million seized in that year.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

IF there are those who doubt whether the time, effort and resources invested in tracking down lost or orphaned sources of nuclear radiation is well spent, the tragic case of Alexander Litvinenko demonstrates only too clearly why this work is crucial.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned of a continued surge in counterfeits of perfumes and cosmetics entering the European Union (EU), with 694,633 fake products seized by customs officials last year. That said, this actually represents a fall in numbers from 2004, being 89% of the number seized in that year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has highlighted countries with particularly significant counterfeiting and piracy of medicinal products. Following 290 replies from businesses, trade associations and diplomatic missions, covering 63 countries, its survey report named Egypt as a real problem zone, criticising the December 2004 approval of 850 local copies of pharmaceuticals "without generic companies having to "prove the efficiency and safety of the copy".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AFRICA may be considered a dry continent, but, says the World Agroforestry Centre, it actually has more rain per capita than Europe – the problem is that this often falls in bursts, causing flooding, wastage and evaporation. However, it says with effective rainfall collection methods, many zones of Africa could be cured of drought, a message backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).…

BY MARK ROWE

CONFECTIONARY production is a never-ending battle to balance the ‘feel-good’ factor of products such as a chocolate and cakes with increasing consumer demands for healthy living and enhanced nutrition, according to a leading food scientist.

Dr Johan Ubbink, a senior research scientist and department group leader at the Nestlé Research Centre for Food and Life Sciences in Lausanne, Switzerland, acknowledged that, while chocolate cake would never be the healthiest thing you could eat, research was embracing new technologies that could mitigate the negative effects of confectionary.…