Search Results for: London

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

DOMESTIC energy customers have never thought they had much control over the services they buy, but smart grid technology such as smart meters, which establish two-way communications between the customer and utilities, offer more autonomy. They also offer a major opportunity for communications companies to offer their expertise to utilities.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

ALGAE have been heralded as the universal raw material of the future for biofuels, agricultural feed, nutritional supplements, biochemicals and cosmetics. They gobble up CO2, can clean up waste water, and many will thrive in seawater when the fresh variety is usually limited to the sunnier climes where algae can be grown more cheaply.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

FAIR trade labels are no longer something consumers are spotting solely in food stores: many different industries are integrating ethical practices into their supply chain, with personal care products leading the pack. Consumers worldwide have been adding fair trade products to their beauty routines, with fairly traded natural ingredients such as Shea butter, cocoa butter, olive oil, honey, sugar and plant extracts cropping up in body and hair moisturisers, balms, scrubs, cleansers, masks and more.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFAI

AFTER a decade of boom in property prices, a downslide is visible in anticipation of the withdrawal of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014 and the consequent decrease in international aid; roughly 97% of the war-ravaged country’s gross domestic product according to the World Bank.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

ALGAE have been heralded as the universal raw material of the future for biofuels, agricultural feed, nutritional supplements, biochemicals and cosmetics. They gobble up CO2, can clean up waste water, and many will thrive in seawater when the fresh variety is usually limited to the sunnier climes where algae can be grown more cheaply.…

BY GEMMA HANDY, IN PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS & CAICOS, AND POORNA RODRIGO

SWAPPING the grey British skies for the sun-soaked shores of the Caribbean might sound like an easy decision to make.

For 56-year-old nurse Anne Males, there was some initial trepidation at how she would cope living on a tiny island with a population of just 25,000, more than an hour’s flight from the nearest major American city.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD AND JONATHAN DYSON, IN LIMA

SOME of world’s most coveted fibres, Vicuña, Guanaco, Alpaca and Llama, all hail from rugged Andean region in South America. Vicuña fibre, known locally and in the trade as the "gold of the Andes" and "the fabric of the gods" is a key part of the global high-end luxury market for rare and superfine fibres.…

BY MARK GODFREY, IN BEIJING

BIG hair product brands are hitching wagons to hair-care salons sprouting up around the Chinese capital Beijing. With local incomes rising, local salon chains such as Shenmei and YesFashion are quickly expanding. Opened in 2011 as a redecoration of a former independent salon, the Shenmei is 400 metres from (in what was formerly a supermarket) a YesFashion outlet on shopping street Tuajiehu Lu.…

BY ROBERT STOKES, IN EDINBURGH; LEAH GERMAIN, IN EDMONTON; AND PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

AS the price of oil continues to rise and the demand for the valuable commodity increases worldwide, oil and gas companies are making major profits – yet this industry remains one where safety issues and hard physical work can cause injury.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

WITH what was once an estimated net worth of over USD2 billion, R. Allen Stanford was once revered as one of the wealthiest men in America. Yet a Texas court has now heard in detail that his wealth, which he displayed in both opulent and lavish ways, was derived from ill-gotten gains.…