Search Results for: united nations⊂mit=Search

BY PAUL COCHRANE and KEITH NUTHALL

SYRIA is such a staple of Middle East political turmoil, it is easy to forget that it is a near neighbour of Europe: less than 200 miles of sea separate it from Cyprus and it borders Turkey, which could be a European Union (EU) member by 2020.…

BY EMMA JACKSON, KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN, PAUL COCHRANE and BILL CORCORAN

WEST Africa is becoming a key region in the booming trade of illicit cigarettes, counterfeit copies of premium brands and smuggled properly branded and manufactured sticks. So much money is being made by criminals using this often-chaotic region as a hub to receive illicit sticks and then distribute them throughout Africa that this trade is becoming a matter of serious concern to the United Nations and even NATO.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has brought together tribal leaders in Sudan’s oil-rich Abyei region to discuss border security, arms control, migration and peaceful coexistence if the area is divided between two countries. That is the expected result of a 2011 referendum on whether Southern Sudan should become independent.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

INDIA’S largest ever financial fraud, the US$1 billion-plus Satyam computer company scam, where top management inflated revenues and laundered money for their personal gains, has shocked the Indian government into reassessing the efficacy of laws and regulations concerning corporate governance and anti money laundering (AML).…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

A SWIFT rise in the price of south Asian cotton yarn has forced closures in Bangladesh’s US$6.43 billion knitwear export sector and pushed some manufacturers to the brink as the whole industry struggles to overcome the costing problem.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States is claiming victory in a trade dispute with China, after Beijing announced it would scrap subsidies for products including body lotion, liquid detergent, soap and fancy soap. Washington had argued these China-christened ‘famous brands’ handouts were export subsidies banned by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

For business journalists, writing about the Gulf from 2004 to 2008 was often a repetitive process. Regardless of the sector being covered, the opening paragraph would invariably have a growth figure in the double digits, and the projection for the next year would also be very healthy. The global financial crisis in the autumn of 2008 dimmed the region's business fortunes, flipping that opening paragraph to negative double-digit growth or, for some sectors, growth in the low single-digits.

This change was welcomed by many business journalists, if only to spice up their writing, but of course not by the business community. The reasons behind strong growth can be easily explained, but a downturn and a serious contraction in revenues requires a different explanation, and it was time for journalists to start asking hard questions – at least it should have been time to play hardball.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA and RUSSEL BERMAN

AMERICAN and Indian officials are keeping upbeat about the prospects of 2010 being the year when the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement finally comes into force and becomes an operational reality. A whirl of recent diplomacy is expected to lead to another round of talks by senior officials charged with ironing out the remaining technical problems that are holding up implementation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations has said 15 countries (including five European Union member states) have now signed a new UN Convention on the Carriage of Goods (Wholly or Partly) by Sea, dubbed the Rotterdam Rules. These provide global rules on shipping liability, covering issues such as multi-modal deliveries, ecommerce and risk allocation.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR

JAPAN-based food retailer Seven & I Holdings has opened a new online mall, ‘Seven Net Shopping’, stocked with five million items.

The service consolidates the online presence of the group’s department stores, supermarkets and convenience stores, while adding 32 outside specialist retailers, including record labels and an animation studio.…