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BY PAUL COCHRANE

TURKEY is ramping up car safety inspections as part of its bid to join the European Union (EU). Last year, Turkey hired a consortium made up of a German inspection firm TUV-Sud; Turkish car importer and distributor Dogus Automotive; and Akfen, a Turkish construction company, to independently inspect motor vehicles.…

BY MARK GODFREY

BUSINESS remains slow in Jinghai, a slice of industrial land a couple of hours east of Beijing designated as one of China’s key recycling belts. Business was brisk here up to October 2008, the date given locally as the beginning of a savage dip in demand for recyclables.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

OIL tankers sailing past the often unstable shores of west Africa will be safer in future, following the commissioning of a fully-equipped regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Monrovia, Liberia, coordinated by the International Maritime Organisation. The centre will help ships in distress off the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.…

BY MARK ROWE, in London; KARRYN CARTELLE, in TOKYO; RUSSELL BERMAN, in Washington DC; and MONICA DOBIE, in Ottawa

INNOVATION in drinks packaging is more intense today than it has been for decades, with cutting edge innovation in intelligent materials, microchip integration and nanomaterials allowing designers to create boxes, bottles, cans and sacks that they could not dream of before.…

BY RUSSELL BERMAN

THE SWEEPING energy reforms being undertaken by the new administration of US President Barack Obama include billions of dollars in funding for biofuels and other clean energy sources.

America’s biofuels industry is applauding Mr Obama’s early moves, although advocates are still awaiting regulatory directives on renewable fuel standards.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

BROWN University, in Providence, Rhode Island, is expecting lower revenues across the board because of the recession, according to a communiqué from its central administration. After its annual winter meeting in February, the governing Corporation of Brown University (composed of its Board of Fellows and Board of Trustees) has decided to begin a series of budget cuts that anticipate a US$90 million decrease in overall spending by 2014.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, LEAH GERMAIN and MONICA DOBIE

MAYBE the best sign that renewable energies have hit the mainstream is that they now have their very own international organisation: the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Launched in Bonn, Germany, this January, with the support of 76 countries, including its host nation, Spain, Italy, France and Sweden, the roster of signatory nations has since been swollen by India and Belarus.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE BILLION US dollar scandal involving India’s Satyam Computer Systems has been an extreme case of corporate fraud illustrating sheer brazenness and masterful avoidance of regulatory checks and balances. Raghavendra Verma outlines its misdeeds and reports on its criminal investigation from New Delhi.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo, EMMA JACKSON and LEAH GERMAIN

TIME was when counterfeit personal care products were commonly crude fake perfumes pedalled in markets and workplaces during the Christmas and other festive periods to bargain hunters who knew they were buying rubbish.…

BY PHILIPPA JONES

AS the global recession continues, calls for greater transparency in the financial sector have increased exponentially. The recent G20 summit of leaders from the world’s richest economies made this sentiment clear and drew specific attention to the need for all countries to adhere to international standards on anti-money laundering, with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) being asked to "reinvigorate" its assessment of potentially erring jurisdictions.…