Search Results for: hong Kong

BY EDWARD PETERS
DESPITE torrential rain in Hong Kong, seven-year-olds of all ages were queuing outside the city’s bookshops well before dawn on 21st June to snap up copies of ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’.

Retailers reported a near total sell-out of the fifth in the series by J.K.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN the days of the Soviet Union, many millions of men and women had a choice of one state-manufactured brand of shampoo, toothpaste or soap. If anything, the authorities managed to limit even further access to such “indulgences” as perfume.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
THE CLUTCH of much-maligned offshore financial centres (OFCs) on remote Pacific islands have been swamped by so many accusations of impropriety, they are now struggling to stay afloat.

Labelled as palm-fringed, sun-drenched laundries for the world’s dirty money, these tiny island states and dependent territories are trying to fend off attempts by international organisations to excommunicate them from the global financial church.…

Keith Nuthall
WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) wine and spirits rules of origin register talks chairman Eui-yong Chung, of South Korea, has released his draft proposal designed to end the long running negotiations. It tries to crystallise positions so a deal can be struck at the WTO TRIPs council, July 2-3.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PHD in rocket science is not required to understand that corruption is a problem worldwide. But such a qualification – and more – would be required to devise an effective plan to fight this financial plague. The United Nations’ (UN) is drafting an international convention on corruption and asked a string of experts to write reports to illuminate some issues.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CHAIRMAN of the World Trade Organisation’s agriculture talks has proposed binding liberalisation targets for member governments. In his first draft of a ‘modalities’ agreement that would set these goals, Stuart Harbinson, of Hong Kong, has suggested, for instance, that all agricultural tariffs greater than 90 per cent should be cut by an average of 60 per cent, with a minimum cut of 45 per cent per tariff line.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Brisbane, EDWARD PETERS, in Hong Kong, RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg, MARK ROWE, in London, SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo and MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal.
FRAUD is fraud, jurists might say. And although jurisprudence generally has a universal flavour and there are frauds that are committed the world over, it would be a travesty of the truth to say that crimes involving deception uniform by nature.…

BY MARK ROWE
For the majority of Hong Kongers, Christmas comes a poor second to the Chinese New Year in terms of present buying – with a corresponding knock-on effect for book retailers. But even allowing for this, retailers have reported disappointing levels of sales over the Christmas period.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
JAPAN has rejected an American government demand that it lower landing fees at its two major international airports as part of wider business deregulation, according to the Japanese Shipping & Trade News. It says that the demand was made at a meeting of government officials from the two countries on regulations and business competition.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Brisbane, EDWARD PETERS, in Hong Kong, RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg, MARK ROWE, in London, SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo and MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal.
BRITAIN’S National Health Service (NHS) is exposed to an estimated annual fraud loss of pounds 2 billion each year.…