Search Results for: cars

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRESSURE on oil companies to continue cleansing their fuels of potential pollutants continues to be applied within the European Union (EU), with the European Commission preparing for the introduction of a new standard ‘Euro 5’ in 2010. It has advised EU member states to harmonise any tax concessions encouraging the use of diesel cars cleaner than the ‘Euro 4’ emissions standard, (which became compulsory on January 1).…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has developed technology to process chicken feathers into a plastic-like material that can be moulded just like any other plastic, with properties similar to polyethylene and polypropylene. The federal agency says this makes the feather-derived plastic a unique material for packaging or other applications where high strength and biodegradability are desired.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank, has agreed to acquire a minority stake in a growing Turkey fleet management company to help cement its transformation into a key player in the Turkish market. The IFC will invest in Intercity, which grew from a single person operation in 1992 to a company with 20% market share, 90 employees and 6,000 cars under management today.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

THE EUROPEAN automotive industry is gearing up for tighter pollution emission limits, possibly by mid-2008, under the European Union’s (EU) Euro 5 program, due to be announced by the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium on 21 December. Also expected to be announced in parallel to these restrictions on engine performance and fuel cleanliness is a carrot to encourage use of new technologies and to create a market for clean vehicles through an EU Environmental Technologies Action Plan.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIA’S paint and coatings industry has been enjoying a period of stability and steady prosperity of late, as a mature sector that is generally growing at the same rate as the country’s robust economy. Despite suffering the effects of the general downturn in the Asian economy after SARS and terrorism fears, the industry has remained highly competitive throughout the five-year period to 2003-2004.…

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas, Texas

THERE is another side to the loss of life and devastation wreaked in the USA by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Dennis last year, a market reaction that has brought unsought benefits to the US paint and coatings industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIA has sent another threat to Europe over gas supplies, undermining its reputation as a potential reliable energy partner for its western neighbours. Semyon Vainshtok, the president of Russia pipeline monopoly Transneft has told the daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta that Russia has "overfed Europe with crude".…

BY LIZ HALL, in Alicante

SINCE March 2005, Operation White Whale, an extensive international anti-money-laundering operation spearheaded by the Spain’s National Police (the Policia Nacional), has produced the arrest of 57 people and the laundering of at least Euro 250 million euros obtained through illegal drug trafficking, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior).…

BY MONICA DOBIE and KEITH NUTHALL

TIME was when Canadians focused a significant proportion of their habitual condescension towards their American neighbours through beer. US brands were dismissed as weak in alcohol, tasteless and generic. But today, even though the big US beer labels taste the same as they ever did – much to the relief of many consumers around the world, of course – Canadian beer tastes are changing, especially among the young.…

BY MARK ROWE

CHINA has spent the past 15 years playing catch-up with the developed world by building skyscrapers and demolishing its old hutongs and alleyways. It has been accused by cultural organisations of taking the view that, in order to justify its existence everything must have an economic means and end.…