Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE IDEA that money laundering is perhaps the most pervasive crime within the modern world, where technology helps the dishonest conceal their ill-gotten gains, was recognised at the highest spiritual level this past December 30. A legal order named a ‘motu proprio’ (which means ‘of his own accord’) in Latin, was issued through an apostolic letter by Pope Benedict XVI, creating an ‘Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria (AIF)’ to examine the financial affairs of the Vatican City State and the Holy See, which effectively runs the Roman Catholic Church.…

BY AHMAD PATHONI

INDONESIA’S paint and coating market has grown by about 3-4% annually by average over the past decade. Indeed, consumption rose to 688,863 tonnes in 2010, from 646,700 the previous year, according to the Indonesian Paint Manufacturers’ Association.

And a mini-boom could be approaching.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has called for global action to tackle the growing problem of plastics pollution in the world’s seas and oceans. Its 2011 year book highlights "persistent, bio-accumulating and toxic substances" associated with plastic marine waste as "a new and emerging concern".…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

THE USA Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) hope of regulating greenhouse gas emissions is putting a damper on investment in new coal plants in the United States. However there is some hope that coal could become clean enough to cohabit with future American emissions rules through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology and tests are now underway in America to demonstrate its effectiveness.…

BY LEE ADENDOORF, KEITH NUTHALL and MJ DESCHAMPS

EUROPEAN Union (EU) governments are facing a political crossroads on a key question whose answer will have an important impact on the EU knitwear sector – both manufacturers and retail. That is the issue of rules of origin and whether there should be an EU-wide law that says clothing and accessories (plus a wide range of other manufactured goods) should be sold with labels saying which country they are made in, if they are imported from outside the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has called for an increase in the extraction of phosphorous from waste solids and waste water to prevent environmental problems linked to fertiliser run-off and prepare for the day when phosphate rock reserves run out.…

BY WACHIRA KIGOTHO

CLASSIFIED as a failed state, Somalia is one of the world’s poorest countries, but oil production could change its fortune. Indeed, politically fractured Somalia is being touted as a potentially rich oil and gas producer. Given security, Somalia is increasingly regarded as economically strategically-located, a view fuelled by recent interest by Chinese and western nations’ oil and gas investment companies.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

ECONOMIC sanctions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban were agreed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) 12 years ago (Resolution 1267) and at first enjoyed strong and uncritical support. It was a new kind of sanctions regime, targeting named individuals, businesses and organisations that supported al-Qaeda rather than focusing on countries, as before.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, and EUGENE VOROTNIKOV

A PROPOSED joint venture under discussion between Japan’s Toshiba Corporation and Russia’s Techsnabexport (TENEX) is expected to focus supplying low enriched uranium, not only to Japan but to third-party markets, Fuel Cycle Week has been told.…

BY EMMA JACKSON and KARRYN MILLER

IN October 2010, new olive oil standards came into effect in the United States for the first time since 1948, and Australia’s first olive oil standard ever is in the works. These new standards are meant to bring the two countries closer to international olive oil purity standards mandated by the Codex Alimentarius and the International Olive Council (IOC) to which Europe and other traditional olive oil-producing (and consuming) countries already adhere.…