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BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD’S trade ministers will this August and September be considering whether they want to make further compromises that could restart the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round, which have been suspended amidst disagreement over its final goals.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Amman

JORDAN is undertaking a root and branch reform of its higher education sector to better match the needs of its economy and regulate the burgeoning private sector.

With no statistics on the number of students enrolled in specific subjects, the country’s ministry of higher education is working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a study to better coordinate the needs of the market and graduating students.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States and the European Union (EU) have agreed to set up joint-border enforcement cooperation to detect counterfeit goods, including clothing, and to create teams of diplomats in third country embassies tasked with sharing data and intelligence on counterfeiting.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has approved a plan for 2006-2009, which will promote energy efficiency in eastern Europe and the Caucasus through the creation of a public private partnership investment fund. It will be structured by the UN Environment Programme, the Global Environment Facility and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and be led by an unnamed private investor.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

PEOPLE who are continually exposed to low-dose pesticides have a staggering 70% higher incidence of Parkinson’s disease than those who are not, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in the United States. An increased incidence to Parkinson’s did not follow an exposure to other occupational hazards, including asbestos, coal or stone dust, chemicals, acids, or solvents.…

BY MARK ROWE, in Munich

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s independent research body has been told its funding is likely to be frozen in the next round of funding, but the head of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) has insisted this will have little impact on its projects or future status.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UKRAINE government should stop building a shipping canal linking the Danube estuary with the Black Sea, until it has consulted its neighbour Romania on the likely environmental damage, the United Nations has advised. Its inquiry commission into the Bystroe Canal has concluded under the UN Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (ESPOO), the Ukraine should allow Romania to comment and stage public consultation on the project.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD’S trade ministers will this August and September be considering whether they want to make further compromises that could restart the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round, which have been suspended amidst disagreement over its final goals.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

A SIGNIFICANT boost in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will speed the challenging switchover from ageing nuclear power stations in central and eastern Europe (CEE) to a cleaner, more efficient and more sustainable energy scene in these new and aspiring entrants to European Union (EU) membership.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN INNOVATIVE micro-credit programme is re-employing Indonesian rickshaw riders who lost their livelihoods during the December 2004 Tsunami. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Islamic Relief, and Aceh NGO Maimun Centre have created a fund which buys bicycle rickshaws, then lends them to riders, until they earn enough money to purchase their new vehicle via weekly instalments.…