Search Results for: South Africa

Keith Nuthall
SRI Lanka was to increase its international airport departure tax from July 1 from SLRupees 1,000 (US$10.29) to 1,500 (US$15.44), outstripping rival destinations in the region. Although Sri Lanka Civil Aviation Authority officials stressed the extra money would be spent on Columbo’s Bandaranaike airport, the island’s press has noted Indian airports charge INDRupees 150 (US$3.22) departure tax on south Asian nationals and INDRupees 500 (US$10.73) on other travellers and Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport charges between NEPRupee 900 (US$11.89) and 1,100 (US$14.54).…

BY PHILIP FINE

AN AREA of northern Bolivia is to be the focus of an innovative Canadian aid mission designed to offer advice on preventing landslides in communities pock-marked with small mines, notably those for gold prospecting.

Canada will fund a team of scientists to help the community of Chima, a remote gold-mining village that was hit by a deadly landslide last month; the specialists want to ensure that they do not suffer from a repeat the tragedy and to help such communities better deal with such disasters, if they do occur.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE AMERICAN Textile Manufacturers Institute wants the US government to halt trade negotiations with Vietnam, while it gets an accurate picture of the abuse of its quotas by Chinese exporters illegally trans-shipping goods through their south-east Asian neighbour.…

Keith Nuthall
WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) wine and spirits rules of origin register talks chairman Eui-yong Chung, of South Korea, has released his draft proposal designed to end the long running negotiations. It tries to crystallise positions so a deal can be struck at the WTO TRIPs council, July 2-3.…

BY RICHARD HURST
ZAMBIA’S Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), the supplier of electricity to the country’s mining industry, has embarked on a diversification growth programme, aimed at increasing its role in the Zambian and other southern African electricity markets through appropriate investments.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE CREATION of standards certification schemes or the development of industrial parks for the leather industry should be promoted by south Asian governments, said the South Asia Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC). This would help meet developed country demands for products that are not made with banned chemicals, by sweat shops or that cause environmental damage.…

BY MARK ROWE
IT is only four letters long but for a little word AFTA is having a big impact on the Malaysian tobacco industry. AFTA, the impending free trade block for south-east Asia, is forcing the Malaysian tobacco industry, widely regarded as having the most sophisticated (and expensive) leaf production and manufacturing infrastructure in the region, to radically overhaul the way it goes about its business.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
INDIA, Thailand, Pakistan, New Zealand, Australia and nine other countries in south and south-east Asia are to better control foot-and-mouth disease, by strengthening links between national laboratories. Notably, a new regional reference laboratory in Thailand will be established, sending out affordable test kits to countries that cannot usually afford them.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON, in Newcastle, England, MATTHEW BRACE, in Brisbane and RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
ASK a human to find a needle in a haystack and they would probably spend five minutes at the most sifting through the stalks, then get bored and walk away.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST trials in African airspace of the European global navigation overlay service (EGNOS) have taken place (Feb 27-29) on board flights into the Senegalese capital of Dakar. The tests, staged by the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission, and ASECNA, (the aviation navigation safety agency for Africa and Madagascar), were carried out as a first phase of plans to install global navigation satellite system (GNSS) services over central Africa.…