Search Results for: Malaysia

BY WILLIAM BARNES

IN the good old days in south-east Asia, a market stallholder might hope to capture the neighbourhood cosmetics market with a simple range of soap, talc, lipstick (usually red) and cheap perfume.

The typical female routine was clean yourself, calm and whiten the face with talc, then add a dash of lipstick.…

BY MUNZA MUSHTAQ

SRI LANKA, which saw an end to its quarter-century-long war recently, is stepping up efforts against money laundering and terrorist financing by introducing technologically savvy software. The initiative is led by the Sri Lankan Banks Association (SLBA), which includes retail, commercial banks and licensed specialised banks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THERE has been an increase in the proportion of counterfeit shoes seized in Europe made in China – up to 93.4% of all seizures in 2008 – the European Commission has revealed. This was up from 79.6% the previous year.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

IN Chinese herbal medicine it is believed that the quality of the skin reflects the quality of a person’s health. With this in mind caring for the skin – both inside and out – has long been held in high esteem in China.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

UNDER- and over-invoicing is an effective means of money laundering that is proving to be a complex nut to crack for the agencies charged with tracking down fraud and its proceeds. Money launderers can move large sums between countries by undervaluing exports to a foreign destination or by overvaluing imports.…

BY MARK ROWE

AIRLINES and airports are perfect carriers for infectious diseases and have helped swine flu to spread around the world within a matter of weeks, to the extent that it is now classified as the first pandemic of the 21st century.…

By Bill Corcoran

Confirmation that critical portions of the new Seacom 17,000km undersea fibre optic cable linking Africa to Europe and India have been completed marked a momentous occasion for people involved in tertiary education in South Africa.

As universities around the world have become used to fast and affordable internet access that handles large volumes of data, South Africa’s higher education institutions have been left to languish in the connectivity dark ages due to a lack of telecommunications infrastructure.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IT has long been outmoded and inaccurate to split the world into two camps: industrialised developed economies, and largely agricultural developing countries. The growth of the 1990s and the current decade means there is a wide range of social and economic sophistication and wealth amongst the poorer of these two old-fashioned categories.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

IRAN has been under international financial and other trading scrutiny since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago, with sanctions by the United States tightened under the Clinton administration through the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. And since Iran’s decision to embark on a nuclear programme, US sanctions have intensified, but in the face of such restrictions Iranian banks and individuals are increasingly using joint venture banks in the Middle East and South America to bypass scrutiny.…

BY MARK GODFREY

AUTOMOBILE sales are down slightly this year in Bangladesh, after a decade of dramatic growth in vehicle ownership. Fluctuating orders for the country’s export-dependent garments industry is depressing sales of vehicles, commented Shah Khaled Pavel, assistant manager for sales at Navana Ltd, Bangladesh’s largest dealership for new Toyota cars.…