Search Results for: japan

BY ALISON MOODIE

SUB-SAHARAN Africa is still struggling to make its way in the global textile and clothing industry – but companies are convinced that without the USA’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) the outlook would be bleaker. One decade ago this May, this tariff preference programme was launched by the US: it gives qualifying African countries zero tariff exports for the huge US market – and statistics show that the sub-Saharan textile and clothing industry has benefited.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

STANDARDIZATION for electric vehicles and, crucially, the batteries that power them has taken a key step forward with the official topping out ceremony [NOTE: US STYLE MIGHT USE ‘GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY’ – IT’S THE CEREMONY WHERE SOMEONE TURNS THE FIRST SPADEFUL AT THE VERY START OF CONSTRUCTION.]…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AUTO manufacturers have long worried about the growth of counterfeiting in their industry, especially of vehicle part copies that might not perform. They have also complained about their designs being copied by rival car makers, especially in emerging markets.…

BY MIRIAM ELDER

THE LUXURIOUS boutiques that line Stoleshnikov Pereulok (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT), one of Moscow’s premiere shopping streets, stand eerily quiet these days. Stern-faced guards appear to spend more time chatting on their mobiles than swinging open doors for the Russian capital’s once teeming clientele.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR

JAPANESE food companies are planning to further reduce prices, under pressure from retailers, according to a survey by leading business daily, the Nikkei. It has forecast that 40% of food and daily goods firms plan to cut prices in the coming financial year – beginning March.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN IMPORTANT step has been made towards guaranteeing the safety of electric and hybrid cars, with the adoption by the UN’s World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations of a new technical standard on this subject – a global first.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

THE ACCEPTANCE by European Union (EU) politicians of a common standard for hydrogen vehicles should make it considerably easier for manufacturers to sell vehicles to a continental rather than a national market.

It has now been more than two years since the EU executive – the European Commission – proposed a technical standard for manufacturers.…

BY BART PEETERS and KEITH NUTHALL

EGYPTIAN smokers were shocked this January to discover a picture of a drooping cigarette on their packets, accompanied by the warning in Arabic: "Long term smoking will affect marital relations." The mere hinting at potential impotence caused quite a controversy in Egypt’s conservative society, in which the average smoker remains overwhelmingly male.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament is pressing for secret negotiations to frame a new global anti-counterfeiting agreement be opened. Talks to frame an Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement (ACTA) have been ongoing for two years, but the countries involved (mostly rich developed countries including the USA, the European Union and Japan) have kept the details under wraps; the parliament has been excluded from consultations.…