Search Results for: Australia

BY MARK GODFREY

IT has not traditionally featured on prospectors’ radar but Mongolia is quickly emerging as an Asian oil exporter. Thanks to rising oil demand from China, the Petroleum Authority of Mongolia has inked production-sharing agreements on 12 oil fields with explorers from north America, Australia and China.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR

JAPAN’S Asahi Breweries has said it plans to build a Japanese Yen JPY400 billion (US$4.5 billion) war chest for overseas acquisitions by 2012 without raising cash from shareholders, instead using loans and revenue. Company officials have predicted it will earn Yen 360 billion (US$4 billion) by 2012 from overseas holdings including Schweppes Australia and Tsingtao Brewery in China.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD, ANCA GURZU, GAVIN BLAIR and KEITH NUTHALL

NEW technologies devour new resources and the move towards hybrid and electric vehicles could make some currently impoverished countries rich. As the world moves away from fossil fuels, the soft metal lithium will become increasingly in demand as a critical component of auto batteries for green cars.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF, ERIC LYMAN and KEITH NUTHALL

INTRODUCTION

THE ITALIAN wine industry hit rock bottom a generation ago, when thousands of bottles of Italian wine were found laced with deadly levels of methanol, a key ingredient in antifreeze that had been used to raise the alcohol content of the wine.…

BY ANCA GURZU

INFRASTRUCTURE and technology costs are the two important factors when talking about promoting intermediate alternative fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG), the Center for Automotive Research, a US-based non-profit organisation, has told wardsauto.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A YEAR of struggle would be the best way to sum up 2009 as far as the global clothing and textile industry is concerned. The depth and severity of the worldwide recession left many clothing and textile companies reeling, even impacting upon China, which had previously been dominating global markets.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE AIR traffic management (ATM) industry is revamping its navigation systems, switching from analogue radio navigation to more flexible GPS-based digital systems – and Australian airports are leading the charge.

The Brisbane Green Project first implemented its Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures at Brisbane airport in 2007, creating pre-determined, GPS-led flight paths which cut emissions and greatly improved navigational accuracy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has granted European Union (EU) merger clearance to for the proposed acquisition of some of USA-based Tronox’s titanium dioxide plants by fellow American chemical company Huntsman. Brussels did not impose any conditions on its permission, which followed an investigation.…

By Katherine Dunn, International News Services

The travails of Roman Polanski in Switzerland this autumn have offered some lessons to the world’s wanted over extradition laws and how to deal with them. The Polish director has of course been living in France, with little fear of extradition, since 1978, when he fled the USA facing statutory rape charges. Only now of course this autumn was he arrested on an American warrant on a visit to Switzerland, while movie stars and directors crowed for his release.

Now, he is out on bail, secured with the help of French president Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, who intervened on Polanski’s behalf. 

As Polanski languishes in Alpine house arrest in a luxury Swiss chalet, it’s clear that extradition is still, at base, a political decision – and to avoid it, one key is not supporting international causes unpopular with powerful governments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and KARRYN MILLER

THE AMERICAN and South Korean auto sectors are closely watching the outcome of informal talks between their governments over removing trade barriers within the 2007 US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, which still requires ratification. The deal was negotiated by the old Bush administration, and is now being reviewed by Obama team, ahead of any renewed ratification push in the US Congress – with the auto sector being a key focus.…