Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A THIRD interim report from the Paul Volcker panel into the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal has bluntly accused its former director of receiving bribes linked to his job worth US$147,184 from 1998-2002. The former US Federal Reserve chairman’s independent inquiry has recommended UN secretary general Kofi Annan lift the diplomatic immunity currently protecting Benon Sevan from criminal investigations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MYSTERIOUS species in deep previously unexplored ocean beds, which could provide vital pharmaceutical ingredients, might be endangered by researchers prospecting for samples, the United Nations University is warning. A study has called for international rules on this work so high-tech submarines do not damage sensitive and barely understood eco-systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
KEMAL Dervis, a former Turkey economics minister has become the new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) administrator. Meanwhile the Thai former World Trade Organisation chief Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi has become Secretary-General of UNCTAD, the UN Conference on Trade and Development.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
FIGHTING money laundering is about getting your hands dirty. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) may pronounce global standards that it would like jurisdictions to follow, but all governments need help, and often regional bodies are better placed to do the detailed work than more remote global organisations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNUSUAL public hearings are being staged at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, over the long-running dispute between the European Union (EU), the United States and Canada over whether hormones should be allowed in beef. Closed-circuit television will carry proceedings to the media and the public between September 12 and 15.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States’ Distilled Spirits Council has congratulated the US Congress for approving the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for opening central American markets to USA spirit exports. Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua) and the Dominican Republic will immediately abolish tariffs on US-produced whiskey and gin.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE COMMITTEE of European Securities Regulators is about to launch a database giving authorities around the world information on securities regulatory decisions made within the European Union (EU), to encourage harmonised approaches. A symbol of the more hands-off approach now favoured by the European Commission, communications officer Victoria Powell said securities regulators could check a scenario they are facing, see if it had been processed in the past, and if so, apply the same reasoning.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending Euro 20.1 million to three Bulgarian banks to create a special fund financing small-scale domestic investments promoting energy efficiency and renewable-energy use. United Bulgaria Bank, Postbank and RZB Bulgaria are participating in the scheme which has been developed under the EBRD’s policy of helping Bulgaria deal with the forced decommissioning of its Kozloduy nuclear reactors.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE UNITED States’ Distilled Spirits Council has congratulated the US Congress for approving the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for opening central American markets to USA spirit exports. Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua) and the Dominican Republic will immediately abolish tariffs on US-produced whiskey and gin.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A WHOLE slew of activities is covered by people calling themselves brokers in the US but here we’re concerned with those who buy and sell securities in the straightforward way on behalf of others (brokers) or for themselves (dealers) and those who deal in options for future delivery of a range of items like agricultural commodities, oil, precious metals, equities, bonds and foreign currencies (futures commission merchants or FCMs).…