Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE APPELLATE body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has today (Monday) dismissed the bulk of China’s appeals against a WTO disputes panel ruling branding illegal its export duties and quotas on fluorspar, manganese, and silicon carbide. The Chinese government will now have to remove these charges and restrictions, which the United States, Mexico, and the European Union (EU) were claiming had unfairly restricted the flow of these key non-ferrous metals onto world markets.…

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 LEAH GERMAIN, IN EDMONTON

A DEAL between the USA’s United Steelworkers (USW) union and the American steel company Timken Co has collapsed over the weekend after workers voted it down, curtailing the company’s plans for a US dollars USD225 million expansion project in Ohio.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

BACK in the noughties, the Gulf was one of the fastest growing regions for paint companies, thriving on an unprecedented construction boom. But then the financial crisis hit in late 2008, ending years of double-digit growth for paint manufacturers in Gulf countries.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, IN BRUSSELS

SOLVING corruption and mismanagement problems in the African extractive industries would be boosted by the mandatory disclosure by companies of tax and revenue payments, a Brussels European Union (EU)-Africa conference on mineral wealth heard yesterday.

The continent’s paradox is that many of its nations are rich in mineral resources yet they remain some of the world’s poorest economies.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, IN BRUSSELS

SOLVING corruption and mismanagement problems in the African extractive industries would be boosted by the mandatory disclosure by companies of tax and revenue payments, a Brussels European Union (EU)-Africa conference on mineral wealth heard yesterday.

The continent’s paradox is that many of its nations are rich in mineral resources yet they remain some of the world’s poorest economies.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

Saudi Arabia’s failure to secure a wide-ranging atomic energy treaty with the USA, continues to push the oil-rich country into the arms of other nuclear suiters, experts on the kingdom have argued. The Saudi's plan is to invest USD112 billion over the next 20 years to build 16 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to offset rising domestic energy demand and retain its position as a leading hydrocarbons exporter.

A memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy was signed with the US in 2008, but the two countries have yet to sign Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act, essentially a prerequisite for nuclear cooperation between the US and other nations.…

BY GEORGE STONE

THE MARATHON United Nations climate talks in Durban, South Africa, that resulted on December 11 in an agreement to kick-start a fresh round of negotiations to secure a new treaty on global carbon emissions, will spark a host of critical accounting and auditing questions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

VF

In one of 2011’s biggest deals, US-based VF announced its plans to buy major footwear brand Timberland in a US$2bn takeover. As well as boosting earnings by US$700m a year, the purchase would leverage VF platforms in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and boost e-commerce operations.…

BY BILL CORCORAN

SOUTH African and Chinese investors have joined forces with the government of the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho to develop Africa’s largest renewable energy project at an estimated cost of around US dollars USD15 billion over the next 15 years.…