Search Results for: japan

BY ALAN OSBORN
INSURERS should have a much clearer idea of the risks involved in extending cover to the areas hit by the tsunami at the end of last year following agreement by 23 Indian Ocean nations to share data and set up seven regional warning centres.…

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
ALTHOUGH it sounds like a chocolate teapot, organisers of this year’s world Expo in Aichi, Japan, are claiming a world first: the creation and construction of a biodegradable plastic exterior wall. Made from biodegradable materials including corn-starch and food waste, the plastic has been manufactured and treated to not degrade, unless it is buried.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN an increasingly crowded and polluted world, pursuing sustainability and using renewable resources in construction will inevitably become more important. The question is how? And as a result good examples of innovative transport systems, industrial practices and materials are on show at this year’s World Expo at Aichi, Japan.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LONG-RUNNING World Trade Organisation (WTO) row between Japan and the United States over American anti-dumping duties on certain hot-rolled steel products appears to have been solved, with Japan suspending plans to secure approval for retaliatory duties on American imports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A HEAVY fine levied by the European Commission on Germany’s SGL Carbon for participating in a cartel on the speciality graphite market has been reduced from Euro 27.75 million to Euro 18.45 million. Following an appeal against the fine, the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Court of First Instance has confirmed that SGL and three other companies should be fined for market fixing; however, it said Brussels’ “was manifestly incorrect” when calculating the German company’s fines.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI, AND KEITH NUTHALL
GIVEN the environmental pressures of global warming laws and clean air legislation, the energy industry is always looking-out for new technologies that can help it deliver services, without the being criticised for harming the planet.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
IT’S coming up to 18 months since the French tobacco industry was hit by the last of a triple whammy of excise tax increases over a single year and it seems a reasonable moment to take stock. The three tax increases – 10% in January 2003, 20% in November 2003 and 10% in January 2004 – were part of a health drive by Jacques Chirac’s government, worried by the continued popularity of smoking among young people among other things.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI, in Japan
VISITORS to this year’s World Expo at Aichi, Japan, are being introduced to a new low pollution tram that needs neither a driver, nor rails. Developed by Toyota researchers, this Intelligent Multimode Transportation System (IMTS) is guided along standard roads by embedded magnetic markers, enabling it to be steered and controlled automatically.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has made the case for governments and inter-governmental organisations increasing their influence over cross-border accountancy bodies, such as the International Accounts Standards Board (IASB). In a green paper on financial services, Brussels said that “the debate about the future governance, funding and political accountability of global standard-setting bodies….are…