Search Results for: Spanish

BY ROBERT STOKES

LEADING Spanish health experts are recommending a sharp hike in alcohol taxation to counter Spain’s relatively high consumption and related social costs. Researchers at the Barçelona Public Health Agency (BPHA) made the call in the influential journal Revista Española de Salud Pública.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

AMAZON’s arrival in Spain has lit a slow flame under the soles of Spanish booksellers, but the e-tailer faces obstacles to growth that do no afflict it in the UK and America. Amazon.es launched September 15 and will be hot gossip at the LIBER Madrid International Book Fair, the main platform for publishers of works in Spanish, which begins October 5.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

INTELLIGENCE agencies by their very nature are secretive. So too are budgetary expenses and the ways in which agencies finance operations, especially in foreign jurisdictions and where they carry out so-called ‘black ops’. The techniques to quietly transfer funds do not in fact differ that widely from organised crime or terrorist groups, using banking services, front companies, charities and the like.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS

A spectre is haunting Europe: the spectre of a possible Greek Euro exit and default. GrExit, as it has been termed, could have catastrophic repercussions for European and possibly the global economy or it could provide some kind of solution for the troubled Eurozone and the heavily indebted country.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

THE growth of data revenues and emerging markets contrasted with lacklustre domestic business, particularly in southern Europe, have dominated latest financial figures from the EU’s ‘big five’ telcos – Telecom Italia, Telefónica, France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

IT might sound like science fiction, but airport managers really are exploring the use of robots to boost security at airports. Partly this is because for some potentially extreme events, it is better to put a robot in harm’s way, rather than humans.…

BY MARK GODFREY

MAKING overseas purchasing easier for Chinese tourists is influencing domestic cosmetics sales in China. Paul French, co-head of Shanghai based market research firm Access Asia sees the reach of Chinese tourists as vital to recent success in China for higher end overseas brands such as Kiehls and L’Occitane.…

BY JUSTIN STARES

ACCOUNTANTS could help the European Union’s (EU) anti-fraud watchdog track down embezzlers, according to the newly appointed chief. In an interview at his Brussels office Giovanni Kessler, director general of European anti-fraud office OLAF, believes there is room for greater involvement of the private sector in both uncovering fraudsters and reporting fraud.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has today (July 15) approved without conditions the planned takeover by Brazilian steel and mining company CSN of one German and two Spanish steel companies. Following a fast-tracked inquiry by the Commission’s competition directorate general, Brussels approved CSN’s purchase of Stahlwerk Thüringen, which makes of semi-finished and long steel products; as well as semi-finished and long steel maker Corrugados Azpeitia; and Corrugados Lasao which manufactures steel electro welded mesh.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded research project will this month start developing a prototype polymer-zinc car battery, significantly lighter, safer and more environment-friendly than existing batteries. Their lead acid, lithium and nickel bases have waste disposal, weight and chemical stability problems.…