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STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN research network Eureka has developed a computerised screening process that will help pharmaceutical companies assess thousands of plants for a potentially lucrative source of therapeutic compounds. At present, researchers trawl through plant samples looking for a useful species, but Eureka’s E!…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a programme of tight cooperation with the United Nations’ (UN) International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on controlling the movement of radioactive materials. Ministers agreed that Euro 7 million of EU money should be spent on the joint work.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels

WHEN asked about corruption in Belgium by Commercial Crime International, a government official held his nose in the time-honoured gesture. But was he being fair? Some recent high profile cases have brought the nation some lurid publicity.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States and the European Union (EU) have launched a joint action programme to fight the counterfeiting of goods by international organised crime, which remains an acute problem for the clothing industry. Washington and Brussels say they will set up joint-border enforcement actions focusing on fighting intellectual piracy and establish teams of diplomats in third country embassies tasked with sharing data and intelligence on counterfeiting.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

VENDING machines called Zoom Shops selling high-end electronics and expensive perfumes alongside the usual crisps and sweets are cropping up in malls, hotels, grocery stores and airports across the United States.

Consumers can select items such as iPods, digital cameras or indeed beef jerky using a touch screen.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

IRELAND has been censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for using the United Nations Law of the Sea’s dispute settlement procedure to tackle Britain’s pollution of the Irish Sea via the Sellafield plant. The court ruled that in European Union (EU) territorial waters, it had exclusive jurisdiction, and Dublin should have asked it to censure Britain, not the UN.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

THE DEADLY viral hemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV), which causes fatal anaemia and haemorrhaging in many fish species, has been discovered for the first time in norther-eastern north America, in upstate New York, by Cornell University researchers.
In May 2006, scientists isolated the virus in round gobies that died in a massive fish kill in the southern St Lawrence River and in Irondequoit Bay, on the southern shore of Lake Ontario near Rochester, New York.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

STRONG demand for leather luggage in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is lining the pockets of tanners in Italy, Pakistan and Thailand.

According to a recent global online survey by marketing data company AC Nielsen, the UAE ranks among the top five countries worldwide for luxury branded luggage bags.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

YOUNG adults in Germany – long seen as Europe’s technological powerhouse – are turning away from science and engineering, with just 16% of tertiary educated professionals in these fields being aged 25-34. The figures are the worst in the European Economic Area (EEA), and show that without change, Germany could face a shortage of engineers and scientists in the medium term.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

UNITED Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) pest control experts have rushed to the Pacific island state of Tuvalu to help its government fight fast-breeding rats destroying its coconut production. A US$200,000 scheme will hang balls laced with rodenticide on palm trees.…