Search Results for: united nations⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INTRODUCTION

THE WORLD’S multilateral food trading system today stands at a crossroads: faced with the suspension of the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round, it can either retreat to protectionism, leavened by a series of competitive bilateral trade deals, or it can grasp the nettle of liberal free trade, slash subsidies and tariffs, and then watch the economic rewards roll in.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg

ONGOING recruitment of South African nurses to the UK is pushing South Africa’s already hard pressed public health system close to the brink of collapse and putting patient care at risk, the country’s lead nursing union and health experts have warned.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A NORTH American Free Trade Area panel has ordered the United States department of commerce (DoC) to review anti-dumping duties imposed on US imports of oil country tubular goods from Mexican producer Hysla SA de CV. The panel found potential errors in calculations underpinning the 21.7% duty, imposed in 1996.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney

FOR devotees of Captain Kirk, Dr Spock and the original Star Trek crew, the thrilling world of nanotechnology could sound vaguely familiar. It offers the 21st century a swathe of new products and services, from dirt-repelling cars to ‘thinking’ materials that can change colour automatically.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A BOOK detailing practical ways in which governments can reduce the costs of dealing with major challenges such bird flu, terrorism and climate change has been released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). *The New Public Finance: Responding to Global Challenges http://www.thenewpublicfinance.org/…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is planning to lend Russia’s United Bakers company US$30 million to finance moves to make packaged biscuits, by boosting finances, buying modern biscuit manufacturing equipment, and acquiring an (unnamed) cereal factory.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NEW global standards for processed cereal-based infant and baby foods – including detailed and comprehensive rules on labelling – have been released by world food body Codex Alimentarius. United Nations body Codex is consulting on the new guidelines, and is looking for comments from member government by March 31.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London

THE POLITICAL institutions of the European Union (EU) are debating how to join an international system that would protect EU manufacturers’ design rights across a wide range of non-European countries in one simple operation. In an initiative that could help auto manufacturers secure the creative aspects of their vehicle design from plagiarism, the European Commission wants to link the EU’s existing Community Design system, (which protects manufacturers’ designs within the 25 EU member states), to a global design registration system run by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a UN agency.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

THE LATEST available figures, released yesterday (15-2) by Statistics Canada, have indicated that Canada’s trade surplus in beer with the United States has expanded significantly in recent years. In 2003, Canada’s trade surplus in beer with the United States stood at CDN$265 million (US$228 million), CDN$43 million higher than in 1999.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

THE NUMBER of Syrians studying in the US has dropped a steep 32% over the past five years, with sometimes-criticised universities in Syria the direct beneficiaries, even attracting foreign students from around the Middle East.

The move comes as Arab students are increasingly shunning top ranked US universities because of anger about its government’s foreign policy, and as Syria’s ossified university system opens up to the private sector.…