Search Results for: China

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Damascus

FOLLOWING a sizeable reduction in import duties last year, Syria’s fledgling car market has grown by up to 60% in under a year.

A mere decade ago Syria’s roads were full of ageing cars, such as 1950s and 1960s Chevrolets, Dodges and Plymouths that were either lovingly maintained or had had one paint job too many.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

AMERICAN researchers say paint manufacturers continue to produce and sell consumer paints with dangerously high levels of lead in countries with weak environmental health controls. A University of Cincinnati study found 75% of all tested paint in India, China and Malaysia contained high levels of lead, with more than 50% of samples 30 times higher than the permitted US standard.…

BY JANE MOIR, in Hong Kong

A THIRD law school is to open in Hong Kong this September amid a degree of trepidation as legal graduates with poor English skills struggle to find jobs in the city. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) will teach a full-time bachelor of laws (LLB) and postgraduate programmes, but some academics have criticised a decision to widen the pool of lawyers while declining English language standards amongst HK students draws fire from legal employers and the bench.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States and the European Union (EU) have launched a joint action programme to fight the counterfeiting of goods by international organised crime, an increasing problem for the pharmaceutical industry. Washington and Brussels say they will set up joint-border enforcement actions focusing on fighting intellectual piracy and establish teams of diplomats in third country embassies tasked with sharing data and intelligence on counterfeiting.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States and the European Union (EU) have launched a joint action programme to fight the counterfeiting of goods by international organised crime, which remains an acute problem for the cigarette industry. Washington and Brussels say they will set up joint-border enforcement actions focusing on fighting intellectual piracy and establish teams of diplomats in third country embassies tasked with sharing data and intelligence on counterfeiting.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

STRONG demand for leather luggage in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is lining the pockets of tanners in Italy, Pakistan and Thailand.

According to a recent global online survey by marketing data company AC Nielsen, the UAE ranks among the top five countries worldwide for luxury branded luggage bags.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg

SECURITY specialists and risk assessors will be increasingly in demand within oil majors seeking to tap sub-Saharan Africa’s oil and gas riches in the next few years, experts say, with available resources and political uncertainty growing in an uneasy parallel.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of the inks and adhesive resins business of Dutch company Akzo Nobel by the USA’s Hexion, part of the Apollo Group. This follows a Commission inquiry focusing on potential damage to competition in supplies of printing ink industry resins, especially rosin resins.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States and the European Union (EU) have launched a joint action programme to fight the counterfeiting of goods by international organised crime, which remains an acute problem for the clothing industry. Washington and Brussels say they will set up joint-border enforcement actions focusing on fighting intellectual piracy and establish teams of diplomats in third country embassies tasked with sharing data and intelligence on counterfeiting.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg

SOUTH Africa and China have entered into a textile and clothing agreement to limit the flood of Chinese imports into Africa’s biggest clothing manufacturing centre.

Initialled during an official visit to South Africa by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, it offers a lifeline to the beleaguered South African textile industry, which has shed jobs and factories because of a surge in cheap Chinese imports.…