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BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SEPTEMBER 11 attacks sparked a tightening of security restrictions around the world and the shipping industry has been a key focus. The latest initiative is the creation of a global system of biometric identifiers for seafarers. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A LINKED system that treats, filters and conserves fresh water in networks of fish farming tanks has been developed by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in the United States. It is designed to support multiple rearing tanks connected to a centralised water filtration and treatment system, maintaining water quality while recirculating up to about 90% of tank water.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

UNITED Nations children’s agency UNICEF is claiming that encouraging mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months of their lives could prevent 1.3 million premature deaths. Celebrating the 15th anniversary of a UN declaration promoting breastfeeding, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) claim six million infants’ lives are being saved annually because of successful global efforts to promote breastfeeding, which they say have risen 15% since this Innocenti Declaration.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

THE CANADIAN government has followed in the footsteps of the European Union (EU) by banning the use of lead acetate in progressive hair dyes namely, Grecian Formula 16 (Canadian sister of the fabled Grecian 2000 Cream in the UK).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is sending legal and accounting specialists to Nigeria and Kenya, to help them trace and recover money stolen by previous corrupt governments. The agency will “conduct in-depth assessments of (their) institutional and legal frameworks”, making detailed proposals to “overcome obstacles to asset recovery”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LATEST BSE discovery in Canada has inspired the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF)/United Stockgrowers of America organisation to sue the US Agriculture Department to prevent imports of Canadian cattle and beef products.

R-CALF says Canadian imports pose health risks to people and cows, costing American producers up to US$3 billion in lost demand.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW United Nations inter-agency programme has been launched to minimise the loss of life and property damage caused by floods. The International Flood Initiative will be headquartered at the Public Works Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan. The initiative would “integrate the scientific, operational, educational and public awareness raising aspects of flood management, including the social response and communication dimensions of flooding and related disaster preparedness,” said UN cultural and scientific organisation UNESCO director-general Koïchiro Matsuura.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CONTROVERSIAL decision to allow personal data on European Union (EU) air passengers to be transferred to the United States has been declared illegal by a European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general. In a formal opinion, which may well be confirmed by the court, Philippe Léger, has said the EU Council of Ministers’ decision "does not have an appropriate legal basis" within EU legislation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HIGHLY undiplomatic exchanges between the European Union (EU) and the United States over the vexed question of cotton subsidies have threatened to obstruct agreement at the already tough parallel talks on general agricultural liberalisation at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Hong Kong summit.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LATEST and probably last draft communiqué for next week’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Hong Kong (Dec 13-18) includes the hopeful goal of setting overall targets for liberalising cotton production subsidies worldwide. This has long been the determined ambition of west African states, who want developed world producers, especially the United States, to stop subsidising their cotton industries, payments that depress world prices, impeding exports from low-wage developing countries.…