Showing posts with label wants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wants. Show all posts

Thursday, June 23, 2011

France wants food price controls

22 June 2011 Last updated at 20:44 GMT Consumer buying vegetables in China High food prices have pushed up the cost of living in many developing economies French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the G20 nations to put in place tighter regulation of food commodity prices.

His comments came in an address to G20 agriculture ministers, who are meeting in Paris to devise ways to tackle the high cost of food.

"A market that is not regulated is not a market but a lottery," said Mr Sarkozy.

Formal announcements from the two-day meeting are due on Thursday.

France is leading the call for tougher limits on speculation in food commodities, but the UK is taking a more cautious approach.

"The question of speculation is one where the jury is out," said Britain's Agriculture Secretary Caroline Spelman.

"I think it is not obvious that it's the only reason why there is price volatility.

"I think it is principally because of supply and demand so we have to actually address the fundamentals in the market place if we are to get stable prices."

'Shielding consumers'

The meeting comes after the World Bank unveiled a new measure to provide protection from volatile food prices in developing countries.

Looking at the threat posed by volatile food prices, the World Bank has introduced a new risk management tool for the developing nations called the Agriculture Price Risk Management (APRM).

The organisation said, its new tool will allow better access to hedging, and thus shield consumers and producers of agricultural commodities from price volatility.

It will protect buyers from price rises in food-related commodities such as wheat, sugar, cocoa, milk, live cattle, corn, soybean, and rice, the bank said.

"With this new tool, we can help farmers, food producers, and consumers protect themselves against price swings, strengthen their credit position, and increase their access to finance," said World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

"This tool shows what sensible financial engineering can do: make lives better for the poor," he added.

Mr Zoellick said volatile food prices "the single gravest threat" the developing nations were facing.

"People are hungry for food and for action on a global level," he added.

The World Bank says that since June last year, rising and volatile food prices have led to an estimated 44 million more people living in poverty, under $1.25 (?0.77) a day.

It estimated that there are close to one billion hungry people worldwide.


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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Nuclear watchdog wants new checks

20 June 2011 Last updated at 16:39 GMT May 27, 2011 photo released by IAEA, IAEA fact-finding team leader Mike Weightman, at Fukushima The IAEA has highlighted some of the weaknesses that contributed to the crisis The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has called for strengthened international safety checks to help prevent a repeat of Japan's nuclear crisis at Fukushima.

Yukiya Amano said UN experts should be able to carry out random reviews of nuclear power stations.

He has also called for countries to carry out risk assessments on their reactors within 18 months.

The watchdog, the IAEA, is holding a meeting in Vienna aimed at improving nuclear safety.

Officials from 150 nations are meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) offices in Vienna.

Mr Amano said nations had to respond to the great public anxiety caused by the Fukushima accident.

"Public confidence in the safety of nuclear power has been badly shaken. However, nuclear power will remain important for many countries, so it is imperative that the most stringent safety measures and implemented everywhere," he said.

He also wants UN experts to be permitted to perform random safety reviews of their reactors.

The suggestion that UN experts perform random checks is controversial, says the BBC's Bethany Bell in Vienna.

At the moment, there are no compulsory international nuclear safety regulations as many countries believe nuclear safety is the responsibility of individual states.

'Unprecedented emergency'

The Fukushima disaster has prompted widespread public concern about nuclear safety.

The nuclear plant's cooling systems were knocked out by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. The disaster caused meltdown at three of the reactors.

Continue reading the main story Reactor 1: Partial meltdown from cooling problems. Building holed by gas explosion. Radioactive water detected in reactor and basementReactor 2: Partial meltdown from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage suspected. Highly radioactive water detected in reactor and adjoining tunnelReactor 3: Partial meltdown from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage possible. Spent fuel pond partly refilled with water after running low. Radioactive water detected in reactor and basementReactor 4: Reactor shut down prior to quake. Fires and explosion in spent fuel pond; water level partly restoredReactors 5 & 6: Reactors shut down. Temperature of spent fuel pools now lowered after rising highMore than three months after the accident, the facility is still leaking radioactive material.

Germany has decided to shut down all its reactors by 2022 and Italy has voted against plans to revive nuclear power.

The IAEA report on the Fukushima accident is to be published on Monday at the conference.

Leaks from the report indicate it has found that Japan did not follow all the proper guidelines for how to respond to the crisis.

It failed to follow some safety measures, and did not learn from past threats to nuclear plants in areas prone to tsunami risk, according to leaks.

But it will also praise the dangerous and hard work carried out by Japan's nuclear workers.

"The operators were faced with a catastrophic, unprecedented emergency scenario with no power, reactor control or instrumentation," the 160-page report will say.

Some 110,000 tonnes of water have built up during efforts to cool reactors since the twin natural disasters, hampering work to bring the plant under control.

The contaminated water, enough to fill 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools, is increasing by 500 tonnes a day as fresh water is continuously being injected to cool the reactors.

An operation on Friday to decontaminate the water was abandoned after just a few hours because of a rapid rise in radiation.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that storage facilities are filling up, so a delay in restarting the filtering system could cause the water to overflow into the sea in about a week.

Fukushima is the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986.


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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Ronaldo wants long stay at Real

Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo Ronaldo joined Real Madrid for a world record ?80m in July 2009 Cristiano Ronaldo would be happy to stay at Real Madrid for another 10 years.

He moved to the Bernabeu from Manchester United for ?80m in 2009 and has now been linked to Manchester City.

However, the 26-year-old winger told the Cadena Cope radio station: "I can't see myself leaving Madrid.

"If [Madrid president] Florentino Perez told me to sign on for 10 years today, I would do it - although I don't know what will happen tomorrow."

The Portugal international scored 53 goals last season as Jose Mourinho's side won the Copa del Rey and finished second in La Liga.

Reports have suggested that City could be lining up a ?150m bid for the former Sporting Lisbon man and are prepared to offer ?21m a year in wages.

"If I was after just money I could have doubled what I have in my account," added Ronaldo. "I'm very happy here, it has been phenomenal."

But, despite distancing himself from a move to Eastlands, Ronaldo refused to rule out ever joining Real's biggest rivals Barcelona.

"Could I think differently tomorrow? Yes. No-one knows the future of a player," he said.

"Never play for Barcelona? Never is a strong word."


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