Search Results for: Caribbean

EU PROPOSES BOOSTING ANTICARTEL POWERS OF NATIONAL EUROPEAN COMPETITION AUTHORITIES

A DIRECTIVE has been proposed by the European Commission that would ensure that national competition authorities across the European Union (EU) have a minimum level of powers enabling them to enforce EU antitrust laws.…

The gradual opening up of trade relations between Cuba and the United States has sparked a raft of bold predictions about how Cuban cigars are poised to sweep into the US premium cigar market. However, Cuban producers will have to navigate several serious obstacles if they are to lay claim to a significant market share, not the least the potential rolling back of détente by the Trump administration in Washington DC – at present a question being asked by many cigar traders.…

The Syria conflict is into its sixth year, as are the multilateral sanctions imposed on the government in Damascus. How effective have the sanctions been, given the Syrian regime’s survival? And where may have funds from members of the regime, and those linked to it, gone?…

THE FIRST phase of a EUR5.6 million upgrade to French Saint Martin’s L’Esperance Airport has been completed, with a renovated terminal building being opened. It has enlarged arrivals and departures halls, free wi-fi, more check-in desks, and a bigger luggage carousel.…

As Auditor General for Jamaica’s public sector institutions, the country’s Pamela Monroe Ellis commands respect, sometimes bordering on anxiety and apprehension, when word gets out that a state agency is to be the subject of an audit. Yet, her easy laughter and cheerful personality quickly dispel any pre-conceived image of a dour, dogged bean counter searching for unapproved expenditure or inadequate accounting practices.…

MOBILE money transactions surged in 2015 across the world – increasing by 31% to reach 411 million mobile money accounts, and this is a critical platform for expanding financial inclusion globally, according to GSMA, a UK-based global mobile industry association, in its February 2016 annual report on the ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’. …

ITALIAN law enforcement agencies are cracking down on the use of the country’s gambling sector by transnational organised criminal groups (OCGs) to launder dirty money. The country’s most powerful mafias – Cosa Nostra (Sicily); ‘Ndrangheta (Calabria); Camorra (Campania); and Sacra Corona Unita’ (Apulia) all abuse gambling to hide criminal proceeds, according to reports from national police investigations.…

MEXICO and central America are often regarding as manufacturing centres for the USA, the world’s largest personal care product country. And while it remains true that brands take advantage of lower costs in these countries to make competitive exports, Mexico (population 122 million) and the seven countries of central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama – population 45 million) are significant markets in their own right.…

THE EUROPEAN Association of Sugar Pro­ducers (CEFS) and the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors (EFFAT) have called for the European Union (EU) to push for a global agreement ending all subsidies and other trade-distorting policies affecting the sugar sector.…

Claims of massive corruption in the sun-soaked Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) are finally being aired in court. More than six years after investigators declared endemic malfeasance had brought the UK overseas territory to the brink of bankruptcy, its flamboyant former Premier Michael Misick is on trial accused of enriching himself by USD28 million.…