Search Results for: Switzerland

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS any journalist who has covered regional or local authorities will testify, sub-national public administrations yearn for the big time. They want their efforts considered important, over and above their day-to-day delivery of community services.

But they know their aspirations must deliver added value.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE ISLAND Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain has embarked on a US$4.7 billion (Euro 3.45 billion) expansion of its one and only commercial airport, the Bahrain International Airport (BIA), to handle rising passenger traffic and regain its position as an aviation hub in the region.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN IMPORTANT step has been made towards guaranteeing the safety of electric and hybrid cars, with the adoption by the UN’s World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations of a new technical standard on this subject – a global first.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

LAST year in Latin America, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI), the region’s two dominant companies, battled to maintain profits through declining volumes. Overall, Latin America was profitable for both companies. For BAT, profits were mainly attributable to a strong performance in Brazil, and improved premium brand sales, however volumes sales declined throughout the region.…

BY MIRIAM ELDER

WHILE the government of the Russian Federation has made real efforts to fight money laundering – as documented recently in the Money Laundering Bulletin – the problem remains rampant in this resource-rich country, according to Russian and international experts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has pushed for a quick replacement of the provisional ‘SWIFT’ agreement transferring European Union (EU) banking data to the United States’ Department of The Treasury.

It has proposed it should quickly negotiate a new Terrorist Financing Tracking Programme (TFTP) deal with Washington, following the annulment of an existing provisional agreement by the European Parliament.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A PROGRESS report issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has claimed almost 300 tax transparency agreements have been signed by jurisdictions since the April 2009 G20 summit in London. This called on governments and sub-national administrations worldwide to adopt the OECD’s standards on revealing and exchanging tax information.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH

University rankings can sometimes be confusing, and should not be the basis of devising policy, said Jean-Marc Rapp, (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT) European University Association (EUA) president, at the EUA’s spring meeting in Brussels at the end of January, "because universities are confronted with rankings every day."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, ANCA GURZU and DAVID HAWORTH

THE CONFECTIONERY manufacturing sector in the European Union (EU) has a new political boss in the shape of Romania’s Dacian Ciolo?, who became the EU’s latest agriculture Commissioner on February 10. Appointed amidst pledges he would be willing to use EU money to guarantee food production, he has promised to undertake a swift review of the EU’s reformed sugar regime.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A PACKAGE of measures designed to fight tax evasion within the European Union (EU) has been approved in principle by the EU Council of Ministers. A ‘general approach’ backing proposed amendments to directive 2003/48/EC on taxing savings accounts has been secured – the changes would extend requirements to declare income (or pay a withholding tax) to interest from some innovative financial products; certain life insurance policies; and savings accounts held in trust.…