Search Results for: United Nations

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

THE UPRISINGS in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the past two years have had a negative impact on the construction and paint sectors, throwing a proverbial spanner in the works when the region was striving to come out of recession.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

The US nuclear energy industry appears confident that President Barack Obama’s second term in the White House will oversee a continued central role for the nuclear industry at the heart of America’s energy policies. In a statement issued by the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, Martin Fertel, NEI president and chief executive officer, said President Obama had explicitly mentioned in his comprehensive economic plan, "the need for a significant contribution from nuclear energy to achieve the administration’s goals."…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI

IT may seem odd that the development of natural gas and oil fracking in the United States might create wealth for farmers in the arid Indian state of Rajasthan, but it is the case. Seeds of guar or cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), a common vegetable in India, are in demand from America’s growing fracking industry.…

BY LENA SMIRNOVA, IN MOSCOW

BUSINESS coaching classes may not require students to swallow pills, don ear muffs and wiggle in straightjackets, but for some Russian businessmen this is a novel practice that appears similar to a traditional psychological experiment. And it is one they are often hesitant to participate in.…

BY ANDREW GREEN, IN KAMPALA; AND BILLCORCORAN, IN CAPE TOWN

THE TRIPLING in the size of Africa’s middle class over the last 30 years to what the African Development Bank estimates is now 313 million people coupled with increased urbanisation, are driving the growth of the continent’s cosmetics industry and markets.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

EVER since the European Commission announced last month that it would stop subsiding food-based biofuels from 2020 and support the production of secondary biofuels based on waste matter and algae, Europe’s biofuel sector has been preparing to fight for survival.…

BY WACHIRA KIGOTHI, IN NAIROBI, AND WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

China’s powerful clothing and textile industry is looking for continued growth in sub-Saharan Africa, whose local manufacturers and brands are worrying about how to deal with the competition.

According to William Gumede, a senior research fellow at the University of Witwatersrand’s school of public and development management in South Africa, Chinese domination of Africa’s textile markets and its industry has promoted significant job losses.…

BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN BANGKOK

THAILAND’S first-car purchase subsidy scheme, in which tax rebates are paid to first-car owners, has provided a major boost to Thailand’s paint and coatings sector as the country’s economy continues to recover from the devastating floods of 2011.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

US textile industry experts are predicting a boost to the country’s thread manufacturing sector following a reform to a loophole in the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) that had left American producers vulnerable.

The new rule comes into force on Saturday (October 13) and corrects a definition that had encouraged the use of non-US (mainly Chinese and other east Asian) sewing threads in American, Central American and Dominican textiles and apparel production.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN, IN EDMONTON

CANADIAN beef producers have welcomed the resumption of work at the XL Foods Inc. Lakeside plant, which had been closed in September, following an E-coli outbreak. The Brooks, southern Alberta, plant received a new operating licence from Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) last week.…