News stories by Carey L. Biron, page 11

WASHINGTON, Oct 07 (IPS) - A new international convention opening for signatures this week will for the first time offer an agreed-upon roadmap by which to significantly decrease the global use of mercury while offering stronger safeguards for both human health and the environment.

WASHINGTON, Oct 01 (IPS) - A deadlocked U.S. Congress proved unable to settle budgetary differences late Monday evening, leading to a federal government shutdown that could soon be felt by foreign aid programmes and their recipients.

WASHINGTON, Sep 30 (IPS) - As lawmakers here prepare to take up legislation that would green-light a U.S.-Mexico agreement on oil-and-gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, development and rights groups are urging them to reject a proposal that would exempt involved companies from new disclosure requirements.

WASHINGTON, Sep 27 (IPS) - The United States has formally told the United Nations that it is on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 17-percent by the end of the decade, assuming that currently proposed regulations are implemented.

WASHINGTON, Sep 24 (IPS) - A contentious global agreement on how to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the global airline industry will be at the top of the agenda over the next two weeks at an international summit, potentially solidifying details that have yet to emerge after more than a decade and a half of talks.

WASHINGTON, Sep 19 (IPS) - Member governments, security companies and civil society organisations on Thursday formally created the first international body to be tasked with the monitoring and oversight of private military contractors' adherence to human rights standards and international law.

WASHINGTON, Sep 19 (IPS) - Regulators here are proposing that most U.S. corporations be required to provide annual public reporting on how the pay received by their chief executive compares to that of their average workers, a requirement proponents say could be a first step in reining in an unprecedented swelling in executive compensation.

WASHINGTON, Sep 17 (IPS) - Nearly 350 international civil society organisations are urging countries taking part in new negotiations towards an agreement on "trade in services" to abandon the effort, warning that the accord would negatively impact on universal access to and national regulation of public services.

WASHINGTON, Sep 13 (IPS) - A debate is heating up here over the extent to which U.S. government-facilitated private-sector development investments should be required to take into account how those ventures impact on climate change.

WASHINGTON, Sep 13 (IPS) - With state and federal government agencies investigating a U.S. farmer's complaint that his alfalfa crop may have been contaminated by a genetically modified strain, consumer rights groups are suggesting that such reports were inevitable.