Search Results for: America

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has again censured the European Union (EU) for breaching global trading rules on its long running banana dispute with the USA and Latin America. An appellate panel of the WTO disputes settlement body found the EU’s discriminatory regime favouring imports of Caribbean and African bananas over central and south American fruit illegally harms American fruit companies.…

BY SARAH BROWN

A FORMER chairman of America’s federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has called on the incoming Obama administration in the USA to start working on accounting reforms as soon as the new president takes office on January 20.

Speaking to Accountancy Age a day after the decisive election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, William M Isaac said: "I think generally that our accounting rules, as well as the way in which we set them, ought to be a very high priority for the Obama administration."…

BY JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

THE VICTORY of the next USA president, Barack Obama and the expansion of his Democratic Party’s control over Congress are likely to dampen calls to end the use of fair value accounting in America.

With Democrats now firmly in charge of the country’s economic agenda, supporters of fair value accounting can probably breathe a sigh of relief this side of the Atlantic.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank making a very tangible contribution to the growth in world trade at a time of global recession by lending US$300 million to help expand the Panama Canal. This 20-year financing will support a US$5.25 billion project to double the canal’s capacity to more than 600 million Panama Canal tons, allowing it to handle large post-Panamax container ships that have become the new industry standard.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has again censured the European Union (EU) for failing to comply with global trading rules on its long running banana dispute with the USA and Latin America. An appellate panel of the WTO disputes settlement body found the EU’s discriminatory regime favouring the import of Caribbean and African bananas over central and south American fruit does illegally harm American fruit companies: "it nullified or impaired benefits accruing to the United States" under the WTO’s general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT).…

BY MONICA DOBIE

RESEARCHERS from America’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have proposed existing US coal power plants use a partial capture technology netting 45%-65% of emissions to generate electricity as opposed to 90%. They say such systems would be less expensive, while limiting CO2 emissions to those from natural gas power plants.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE CREDIT crunch may be about to apply the handbrake to the Russian economy, but its paint industry continued to flourish in 2008, mirroring the expansion of wealth in the country, and suggesting the sector may buck the expected downturn in the coming 12 months.…

BY JAMES BURNS, PHILIPPA JONES, KARRYN MILLER and FRANCES WANG

IF anything would drive the cosmetics sector away from mineral oils into the arms of bio-based oils and fats suppliers, it is surely the high crude oil prices that punished buyers before they began to fall steeply in the summer.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN food and drink industry has been keeping a close eye on negotiations in Geneva at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), where strong attempts are being made to keep alive the Doha Development Round on liberalising global commerce.…

BY MARK GODFREY

RUSSIA may have invaded Georgia this August, but its wine industry seems almost gung-ho about the import embargo on Georgian wines that the Russian government has imposed since 2006. It has proven a "huge stimulus" to local winemakers to improve quality, according to the head of a project tasked with opening new markets for the country’s wines.…