Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EVERY decade or so comes a technology that is so new, comprehensive, interesting, and damned useful, that it changes the way that we learn, have fun and do business. Think commercial air travel, the mobile phone and the Internet…..these…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Kuwait City and Beirut

THE AUTO sector and market of the Middle East’s Gulf region experienced yet another boom year in 2007 on the back of high oil prices, a rising population and strong economic growth. But although sales were uniformly high among the six Gulf Arab states that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Kuwait had a noticeably slower year, particularly for American and European brands.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

The European Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) has rejected a request by the UK for the annulment of an EU regulation setting out standards for the security features, including bio-metrics, to be carried on passports and other travel documents in the EU.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Tripoli and Beirut

THE OPENING up of Libya’s economy could not have come at a better time for international oil companies, which have been beset in recent years by dwindling easily accessible oil reserves, tighter controls over exploration rights and extraction, and heightened security concerns.…

BY BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg

SOUTH African booksellers recorded healthy sales figures for the month of December with many of the festive season’s bestsellers emanating from the local market.

Leading booksellers Exclusive Books, which has 43 stores nationwide, indicated that sales on last year had increased steadily Christmas period, although the company still believed the market had yet to spike.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A UNITED Nations Environment Programme specialist has warned the European Parliament of concerns that water shortages are preventing nuclear plant operators from obtaining sufficient supplies to cool their reactors. UNEP’s Kaveh Zahedi told the European Parliament climate change committee that at least 24 nuclear plants in the south-eastern USA face shutting down or limiting operations over droughts and that last year in Italy, low water levels on the River Po sparked proposals to suspend operations at nearby plants.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing

A YEAR after China began enforcing its Law of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-Money Laundering – effective from January 2007 – observers are wary about the ability of the country’s understaffed enforcement agencies to keep pace with huge inflows of questionable funds into China’s booming economy.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has given the go-ahead to legislation which will end design protection for most spare parts and other machinery components across the 27-country European Union (EU).

MEPs voted for the changes to the EU’s legal protection of designs directive, which will come into force in 2013, assuming it is backed by the EU Council of Ministers – which shares veto rights over EU legislation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A PETITION from the US states of California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, plus the District of Columbia and New York City has called for a cap-and-trade system on aviation emissions from flights to US airports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have agreed in principle that only fire-safe cigarettes, that stop burning if they are not being smoked, be sold in the EU. Ministers have given the green light to the European Commission to draft a technical standard for all member states, with formal approval being secured in 2008, and introduction of the rule probably coming by 2010.…