International news agency

Archive

International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.

SECURITY CODE



BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the deadline for the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) security code passes today (July 1) with just over half of ships and ports in compliance, maritime insurers are considering whether policies should exclude coverage for shipping losses caused by failures to implement these rules.…

Read more

SOLIDARITY FUND



BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is early days, but the European Union’s (EU) Solidarity Fund, subsidising the costs of large-scale disasters, shows every likelihood of being a permanent feature of the EU risk management scene. We’re not talking small beer here; the fund paid out Euro 104.7 million last year and Euro 728 million the year before that, easing the consequences of disasters such as floods, earthquakes and forest fires.…

Read more

CEA PRESS CONFERENCE



BY DAVID HAWORTH
INSURANCE is facing a huge acceleration of new EU legislation, which will lead to additional burdens right across the industry, Gérard de La Martinière (SPELLING CORRECT), the Comité Européen des Assurances’ (CEA) new president warned in Brussels today.…

Read more

IMO CODE/LAW OF THE SEA



BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE may be lies, damned lies and statistics, but no spin can conceal that a large proportion of international shipping and ports will not have complied with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) security code by July 1, its implementation deadline.…

Read more

VAN BUITENEN VICTORY



BY KEITH NUTHALL
CELEBRATED European Union (EU) whistleblower Paul van Buitenen has been elected to the European Parliament, daring the European Commission to sack him for the criticisms he made of the EU in his election manifesto. More a book than a policy platform, van Buitenen laid into his former boss Neil Kinnock, who he has accused of erecting “hoax” accounting reforms to the much-criticised EU.…

Read more

SAVINGS TAX



BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has struck a deal with the European Union (EU) over the controversial savings tax issue, agreeing to levy a flat tax on EU citizens holding accounts in the country. The decision means the Swiss have joined Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino in imposing withholding taxes rather than change their laws on banking secrecy.…

Read more

UNCTAD DEAL



Keith Nuthall
A COOPERATION agreement has been struck between the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The two organisations will work together to boost accounting standards in developing countries and so-called transitional countries, such as in eastern Europe.…

Read more

FRAUDNET - OLAF



Keith Nuthall
EUROPEAN Union (EU) anti-fraud unit OLAF has proposed creating an EU FraudNet system, allowing other national and international law enforcement teams to exchange information about financial crime.

It suggested the idea at a conference “Fraud and Aid Funds – What the International Community can do” it organised in Brussels.…

Read more

NEW EU AUDITOR



BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has appointed an insider as its new Internal Auditor, replacing Jules Muis who has been highly critical of the organisation’s accounting practices since leaving his post. Walter Deffaa will now become director general of the Commission’s internal audit service (IAS).…

Read more

SERBIA REFORM



Keith Nuthall
TRAINING for hundreds of officials in Serbia’s often hard pressed tax administration will begin imminently in a state-of-the-art instruction centre, the European Union’s (EU) European Agency for Reconstruction has announced. The Belgrade lecture centre and attached reference library is part of four such centres being funded by a Euro 13.4 million EU programme, said the agency.…

Read more