Top climate experts warned on Friday that global warming will cause faster and wider damage than previously forecast. More than 100 nations in the United Nations climate panel agreed a final text after all-night disputes with some scientists accusing government delegates of watering down their findings.
Climate experts neared agreement on Friday on the strongest United Nations warning yet about the impacts of global warming. But scientists working with government delegates from more than 100 nations on the UN climate panel were still stuck in talks after an all-night session in Brussels.
The European Commission confirmed on Tuesday that it has launched an anti-trust probe into online music sales by computer company Apple and several major record labels. In order to buy a music download from the iTunes’ Belgian online store a consumer must use a credit card issued by a bank with an address in Belgium.
European Union regulators halted an antitrust investigation into Sony and Bertelsmann AG’s 2004 deal to merge their music units after the companies failed to hand in required data, the European Commission said on Friday. ”This means that the clock has stopped on this case until such time as the information is received,” the commission said in a statement.
The African Union on Wednesday denounced European Union ”double standards” in taking action against Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe while ignoring abuses by other African leaders. ”I would have preferred that there were no double standards at the European level, even for judging heads of state,” the AU representative in Brussels told reporters.
A container ship is docked at Ghana’s Tema port, stuffed to the brim with frozen food products, including thousands of metric tonnes of poultry parts recently arrived from Brazil. These are unloaded into cold storage facilities until they can be transported to the capital, Accra, or elsewhere in the country. And then the electricity goes out.
The European Union has reached a deal on ”ambitious and credible” targets to tackle climate change and energy needs, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday after a summit of EU leaders. The agreement, addressing such issues as biofuels and renewable energy, commits Europe to take the lead in fighting global warming.
The head of the Tintin studio announced on Thursday that Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks company has committed to produce at least one movie on the famed Belgian cartoon character. Hergé Studios head Nick Rodwell said the Hollywood company will go into pre-production of a Tintin movie.
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/ 28 February 2007
Does the presence of Heineken beer in Sierra Leone contribute to reduction of child mortality? How does chemicals company Akzo Nobel help prevent environmental damage? The Dutch have set up an "MDG Scan" to keep score on what multinational companies do towards realisation of the United Nations’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
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/ 13 February 2007
International sanctions alone will not prevent Iran making enough high-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb, according to an internal European Union study leaked on Tuesday. The United Nations has imposed sanctions banning transfers of technology and know-how to Iran’s nuclear programme and hinting at broader penalties.
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/ 7 February 2007
Leading European cellphone operators pledged on Tuesday to draw up a voluntary code over the next year aimed at protecting children using cellphones. The companies agreed to support controls on access to adult material, to launch awareness-raising campaigns for parents and children, and to fight illegal content.
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/ 3 February 2007
The European Commission on Saturday confirmed that the H5N1 strain of bird flu was found on a poultry farm in eastern England. The Commission was informed by British authorities of the suspected outbreak of avian influenza in Suffolk on Friday, the European Union executive said in a statement.
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/ 22 January 2007
The European Union on Monday urged increased support for the peacekeeping force in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, as the EU’s executive arm declared that it had no more funds to offer. EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, committed to continue funding the contingent until a new force combining African Union and United Nations troops can be deployed.
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/ 21 January 2007
The European Commission is set to decide this week whether to propose tough new emissions limits on new car models after the automotive industry failed to meet voluntary targets. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas is eager to set binding limits on new passengers cars but needs the backing of his colleagues in the European Union’s executive arm to go ahead with the proposal.
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/ 19 January 2007
After taking action against Microsoft and Google, Belgium’s French-speaking newspapers are seeking redress from another internet search engine, Yahoo!, their lawyer said on Thursday. The papers accuse Yahoo! of violating copyright laws by giving internet users free access to archived newspaper articles.
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/ 14 January 2007
The European Union breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday after the Russian Federation and Belarus ended a row over oil trading arrangements that cut Russian supplies to Europe earlier this week. ”I welcome the agreement reached between Russia and Belarus,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Brussels.
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/ 10 January 2007
The European Union put climate change at the heart of a broad new energy policy on Wednesday as it moved to boost renewable fuels, cut consumption and curb its dependence on foreign suppliers of oil and gas. With oil imports hit by the latest energy dispute involving Russia, Brussels laid out a vision of a common energy policy for the 27-nation bloc.
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/ 13 December 2006
European Union leaders should support tough action against Sudanese leaders for their failure to end abuses in the strife-torn region of Darfur, the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. On the eve of a two-day EU summit in Brussels, the campaigning groups called for individual sanctions on Sudanese leaders, an assets freeze and a travel ban.
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/ 13 December 2006
By 2030, 1,2-billion people in developing countries will belong to a global middle class, up from 400-million today. The increase in wealth will make income inequality and environmental pressures more acute, predicts the World Bank in a report titled <i>Managing the Next Wave of Globalisation</i>.
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/ 11 December 2006
European Union foreign ministers wrangled on Monday over how hard to penalise Turkey for failing to normalise trade with Cyprus at the start of a week that could derail Ankara’s troubled entry negotiations. EU countries are split between some who would shed no tears if talks collapsed and others who say Europe must embrace a key strategic partner to bridge the Western and Islamic worlds.
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/ 22 November 2006
European Union experts say the United States is pushing to get a regional peacekeeping force deployed in Somalia and this could trigger a wider war in the Horn of Africa. The EU has warned that such a deployment could give cover for a larger military operation against the Islamists who control Mogadishu.
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/ 17 November 2006
South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu expressed concern on Friday that Jean-Pierre Bemba’s decision to reject the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) election results could spark more violence. ”You have to be crazy not to worry,” Tutu told reporters in Brussels, ahead of a debate on good governance in Africa.
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/ 14 November 2006
The European Union and South Africa said on Tuesday they had cleared up the last details in the way of long-planned cuts to tariffs on car exports to each other’s markets. The plan was previously agreed and EU countries had now backed its details, an EU official said, adding both sides would seek to implement it by December 1.
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/ 14 November 2006
The European Union and South Africa on Tuesday hailed a new closer relationship aimed at enhancing their strategic political cooperation on issues including conflict resolution in Africa. The two sides agreed to work towards a ”strategic partnership” — special relations which the EU so far enjoys only with Canada, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
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/ 3 November 2006
Ninety-eight percent of registered victims of cluster bombs are civilians, Handicap International, a United Kingdom-based NGO, says in a report published on Thursday. The report, Fatal Footprint, was launched in several countries ahead of an international conference on conventional weapons starting in Geneva on November 7.
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/ 20 October 2006
The European Commission unveiled on Friday a new strategy to encourage peace and stability in the Horn of Africa, as two European Union diplomats were expelled from Ethiopia, inside the conflict-prone region. The strategy is more of a diagnosis of the region’s problems than a cure.
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/ 13 September 2006
The European Commission is to restrict the amount of liquids allowed in hand luggage for air passengers, in a new security measure, Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said on Wednesday. ”Following the incidents of this summer we have sought to introduce a response proportional to the needs of security,” Barrot told reporters in Brussels.
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/ 5 September 2006
Europe’s ”Christian values” should be enshrined in a new version of the European Union Constitution, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared last week after meeting the pope. In remarks that will reopen the debate on religion in the EU, Merkel threw her weight behind Pope Benedict’s campaign to recognise Europe’s Christian heritage.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Friday he could raise 15Â 000 troops for a UN peace force in Lebanon as European nations overcame their reluctance to send soldiers. Italy pledged up to 3Â 000 troops, France 2Â 000, Spain up to 1Â 200 troops and Poland a slightly smaller contingent.
The mainland European economy, buoyed by a resurgent Germany, is expanding at its fastest rate for six years, outstripping the United Kingdom and the United States, fresh figures showed last week. Domestic euphoria over the football World Cup held in Germany boosted the country’s economy, which grew by 0,9% in the second quarter, the fastest growth for more than five years.c
The European Union said on Friday it is giving â,¬6-million in humanitarian aid to Eritrea and â,¬3-million in aid to Ethiopia to help those affected by drought and conflict. The money, which will be given to United Nations agencies, will help cover costs to provide urgent food and water supplies to people in Eritrea.
European Union regulators on Tuesday started scrutinising Europe’s telecommunications industry on risks for children using cellphones and called for self-regulation in the sector. The growth in cellphone could threaten the safety of minors, the European Commission said.