Search Results for: United Nations

BY KARRYN MILLER

VIETNAM has worked hard to convince foreign companies they should look past neighbouring China for their knitwear needs. Through an increasing commitment to quality, along with strong government support, Vietnamese knitwear firms are starting to see the fruits of their labour and tags ‘made in Vietnam’ are becoming more common both domestically and abroad.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

PEER reviews have begun assessing the banking and tax transparency systems promoted by the G20 group of nations following the international contagion of financial problems sparked by the credit crunch. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development’s (OECD) Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information will undertake the process.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, FRANCES WANG, AHMAD PATHONI, WILLIAM BARNES, KARRYN MILLER and KEITH NUTHALL

THE PEOPLE of Okinawa are famous – even in ageing Japan – for their longevity. The women of this sub-tropical chain of islands have the longest life expectancy in the world, at nearly 89 years, they have the lowest mortality rate from chronic diseases linked to ageing and the highest ration of centenarians in the world – nearly six times the rate in other industrialised nations.…

BY MARK ROWE

RUSSIA’S near abroad appears to offer an A-Z of both money laundering activities – from low level corruption to more sinister opium-based profits – and of the wide spectrum of governmental attitudes towards tackling the problem.

"While Russian and Ukrainian gangs have a presence in a lot of the activity in the region, most money laundering is still done by indigenes," said Mark Galeotti, of the Centre for Global Affairs at New York University (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT).…

BY CRAIG HOWIE

THE POPULAR television programme Sex in the City famously glamourised New York’s luxury clothing culture, and Los Angeles’ high-end boutiques were given the star treatment in the 1990 film Pretty Woman. And America has long been the world’s largest market for high-end clothing.…

BY GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE

WHEN an earthquake of a magnitude of seven on the Richter scale struck Haiti in January, it destroyed most of this 9 million population Caribbean country’s infrastructure, including ports and airports. Many businesses have suffered, including the tobacco sector, with many retail outlets ruined, especially in the capital Port-au-Prince whose central business district was shattered by the quake.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

WITH maturing fields, a need for more expansive upstream capabilities, and domestic energy demand spiking year on year, the United Arab Emirates is investing more than US$50 billion (Euro 36.6 billion) on oil and gas projects over the next three years to nearly double output capacity by 2020.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH a new European Commission in office, major decisions can now be made on pushing ahead with European Union (EU) energy policy priorities: Brussels has released a Euro 4 billion package of 31 gas infrastructure (and 12 electricity) projects.…

BY AHMAD PATHONI, ALYSHAH HASHAM, MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL

GIVEN the constant flow of news about tougher tobacco industry regulations from all continents, tobacco executives could be forgiven for thinking there are no countries where they have a relative free hand to sell their products.…

BY GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE

WHEN an earthquake of a magnitude of seven on the Richter scale struck Haiti in January, it transformed the poorest county in the Western Hemisphere to its largest construction site.

As the country’s leaders unveiled a US$14 billion reconstruction plan for the battered country, international excavation and construction companies, including some from Great Britain have lined up for contracts to rebuild the hundreds of commercial and residential properties that were destroyed.…