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BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Abu Dhabi
HOW to better regulate the popular Middle East and south Asian alternate remittance system (ARS) known as hawala, which has been linked to money laundering, organised crime and terrorist financing, was the focus of the recent Fourth International Conference on Hawala at the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Abu Dhabi.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE AMERICAN Red Cross and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have launched a joint US$7.5 million project to restore seafood and finfish aquaculture and wild harvesting in Indonesia’s Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, which was devastated by the 2004 tsunami.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
The cosmetics and personal care market in the UAE was worth more than US$414 million in retail sales last year, according to market data group Euromonitor. Demand is being driven in the UAE by an estimated 6.2 million tourists a year, a 23.5% rise in GDP in nominal terms in 2006, and by radical changes in the UAE’s population- from 2.4 million in 1995 to 4.3 million this year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NUCLEAR energy industry has always been a global business, and since the fall of communism, it has become more, not less international. As a result, the need for common standards and practices, relevant to the industry, its suppliers and its customers is becoming increasingly important.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo
RELATIVELY little is known about ethnic specificities in adolescent skin, although the research division of French luxury products group Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) is focusing a high percentage of its efforts on understanding modifications in the skin as young people change from being children to adolescence and adulthood.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GLOBAL food standards body Codex Alimentarius has drafted global rules setting maximum levels for tin contamination in canned food and drinks beverages. Final consultation is now under way for the guidelines, with concerned governments being asked to make comments to the Rome-based United Nations body by May 30, ahead of them being debated by the organisation’s ruling commission between July 2-7 session.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HOPES that the departure of former French president Jacques Chirac from the Élysée Palace would help create an opening for the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round have been dashed. New president Nicolas Sarkozy told northern France producers that he would insist on guaranteed subsidies protecting French meat and other specialities.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai
THE CLOTHING market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is experiencing stellar growth on the back of rising consumer spending, a surge in tourists, and 145% growth in retail space as new malls and shopping centers spring up.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States is challenging China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), asking a disputes panel to order Beijing to tighten its “inadequate protection of copyrights and trademarks”. The US Trade Representative office claims that China’s “excessively high legal thresholds for launching criminal prosecutions offer a safe harbour for pirates and counterfeiters,” breaking Chinese commitments under the WTO’s Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.…

BY MARK ROWE, in London
NANOTECHNOLOGY may help textile manufacturers dramatically reduce their costs and overheads, according to a design expert speaking at a conference at the Royal Society in London. The precise measurements involved in using nanofibres and other nanotechnology means that manufacturers could both significantly reduce the bulk of raw materials they need but also produce bespoke products that are far more targeted than is presently the case.…