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BY KEITH NUTHALL
A UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Protocol on Heavy Metals will come into force on December 29 following its ratification by Germany. It is the 16th country to confirm the treaty, the minimum number required for it to be binding on all 35 signatory countries, covering western and eastern Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA has played tit-for-tat in unusually public diplomatic spat over temporary’ safeguard duties that were imposed by Beijing last May on US exports of nine steel products. The United States had published a pointed set of questions about whether the duties had actually lapsed as planned by November and over exemptions from such tariffs for South Korea and Slovakia on the apparently dubious grounds that they were “developing countries”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SUPERMARKET boom in sub-Saharan Africa is raising standards in food production and distribution, which many small producers struggle to meet, said the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). It says the growth of mass retail in South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland is having “a direct impact on the lives of millions of small farmers.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations is warning that without speedier action by the US-run Coalition Provisional Authority to assume the responsibilities of the UN Oil for Food Programme, a November 21 scheme closure deadline could be missed. UN Office of the Iraq Programme executive director Benon Sevan also blamed deteriorating security.…

BY MARK ROWE
UZBEKISTAN has been at the forefront of international AML efforts in the central Asia region, a spokesman for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told the Money Laundering Bulletin. Uzbekistan has the most advanced AML legislation and apparatus of all the former Soviet Central Asia and has signed more than 20 bilateral and multilateral agreements on cooperation in fighting illicit drug trafficking with its Central Asian neighbours, as well as with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey, according to the International Money Laundering Information Network (IMOLIN), (whose contributing members include the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, the United Nations and the World Customs Organisation).…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE and KEITH NUTHALL
A SHORTLIST of seven designs for a planned 16.7 billion yuan (US$2 billion) third and international terminal at Beijing’s Capital Airport has been unveiled. Beijing Capital Airport Authority announced that the competing designers include the UK dominated NACO Foster ARUP consortium; the British Airports United Consultants Consortium; France’s Aeroports de Paris/Ingénierie consortium; China’s Beijing Municipal Architecture Design and Research Institute plus the USA’s Landrum & Brown & Yang Molen; Murphy/Jahn Inc; and Parsons & Fentress.…

Keith Nuthall
THE UNITED States and Britain have formally withdrawn two cases brought against Libya at the International Court of Justice over its liability under the Montreal Convention because of its role in the Lockerbie disaster. The move follows Libya’s offer of compensation to victims’ families.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A UNITED Nations (UN) Convention against Transnational Organised Crime has come into force, imposing a duty on ratifying countries to outlaw membership of an organised criminal group, which it defines legally. So far, said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 48 countries have ratified it, including Monaco, Nigeria, Serbia & Montenegro, Peru, Spain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Philippines, Tajikistan, Albania, France, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, China, Norway and Afghanistan.…

BY MARK ROWE
PEPSICO, which is marking 50 years of operations in the Middle East, finds itself at something of a crossroads. An all-American company, in a region where anti-Americanism has rarely been so widespread, it faces several challenges to ensure that it will continue to operate successfully in the Middle East for a further half a century.…

Keith Nuthall
THE UNITED Nations body established to settle claims made against Iraq because of its illegal occupation of Kuwait in 1991 has awarded a further US$315 million in compensation, bringing the total amount of money paid out under its authority to US$46.6 billion.…