Search Results for: Climate change

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

BRAND loyalty in the telecommunications industry does not have the same pull as in more personal sectors such as cars, perfume and toothpaste. Consumers looking for mobile and broadband network services do not usually care about who is providing their service, just as long as it is fast and reliable; making relationships between service providers and customers somewhat fickle.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

MINERAL market specialists are calling for the United States government to step up investment and support for the country’s rare earth mining industry or else the country will lose out on developing important green technologies to competing countries like China.…

BY ROBERT STOKES, IN EDINBURGH

INVESTORS want to make the United Kingdom the hot spot for new gas storage projects in the European Union (EU). The UK tops the EU’s league table of projects either applied for or with official consent: 11.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of space compared with 4.6bcm of current operational capacity.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A RESEARCH project at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in Israel, has developed a new manufacturing process that will enable the cosmetics industry to mix thus far insoluble substances with water. Researcher Katy Margulis-Goshen says ingredients such as oil can be dissolved in water if broken into nanoparticles.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

OVER one million people have signed an online petition calling for change in European Union (EU) legislation that would make journey times shorter for animals being transported to slaughter, and improve the overall welfare of livestock.

The collection of signatures from EU citizens is part of a larger campaign, launched by Germany-based international organisation Animals’ Angels and Danish MEP Dan Jørgensen, calling for 8-hour limits on the transportation time for animals being sent for slaughter.…

BY WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

WITH a growing interest in colour cosmetics amongst Chinese women, many companies are developing innovative and unique packaging that especially appeal to younger consumers.

Market research firm Euromonitor International has stressed in a report that international marketing has helped fuel this trend: women between the ages of 15 and 30 living in urban areas of China have been widely exposed to Western and Japanese makeup and are gravitating largely towards colour cosmetics because of this.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI, AND LEAH GERMAIN, IN EDMONTON

IT is an obvious strategy. When ingredients’ costs rise, shaving a few grams off the weight of a personal care product can save manufacturers money. But the risk that consumers will notice and ditch a brand is real, experts warn.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

THIS is a watershed year for futures and options trading in commodities, including bio-based oils and fats. In America, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the official watchdog, has just been implementing new rules intended to make it harder for the system to be exploited by financial speculators driven solely by short-term profit motives.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

THE SYRIAN energy sector is currently reeling from the sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) and the United States in the last quarter of 2011 in response to Damascus’ severe crackdown on protests that began in March of last year.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS AND LENA SMIRNOVA

AFTER 18 years of negotiations, Russia has finally gained approval to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a key diplomatic move that could have profound consequences for the country’s textile market and industry.

A ministerial meeting of the WTO in Geneva anointed Russian accession on December 16, making the country the WTO’s 155th member.…