· April, 2006

Stories about Economics & Business from April, 2006

Martinique: Tourists Turned Off

  29 April 2006

Bien Vu worries (FR) that Martinique is turning tourists off. Some have complained to him, he says, about: “a poor welcome, bad company, not feeling safe during their vacations and to top it all off, women being the subject of obscene insults.”

Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba: Morales’ TCP

  28 April 2006

Evo Morales has announced a free trade agreement with Venezuela and Cuba. A free trade agreement except that it shall be called a TCP, or “Trade Agreement of the Peoples.” Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas explains the difference, or lack thereof, in a two part series. Chilean blogger Carlos Gustavo Machicado Salas has...

Ukraine: Markets Won't Wait

  28 April 2006

At Foreign Notes, LEvko writes that Ukrainian president expects the coalition to be formed sometime in June, and Scott W. Clark cautions that this may be a bit too long for the country's economy: “If, as LEvko reports, this mess won't be sorted out until June, will the markets hold...

Belarus: BBC Responds to Blogger

  28 April 2006

BBC responds to David McDuff of A Step At A Time regarding the possibility of broadcasts in the Belarusian language in Belarus – in addition to broadcasts in Russian, Ukrainian and English: “The problem surrounding delivery of the product into the region remains the key stumbling block. The World Service...

Jordan: Customer Service

Speaking her mind about the ‘customer service’ in the Arab world, Khalidah says: “We see large companies with hundreds of employees and fancy titles, their organization charts can fill a whole wall, each manager has managers and those report yet to more directors, those directors report to boards and boards...

Trinidad & Tobago: Press statement on aluminum smelter

  28 April 2006

The Rights Action Group T&T blog pulls no punches in the press statement outlining the group's views on the aluminium smelter project proposed for south Trinidad: “What is at stake for Trinidad and Tobago is not only the giving away of our natural gas, which accounts for 20% of our...

Nigeria: China's Scramble for Africa

  28 April 2006

Chippla has an excellent post on China's scramble for Africa…”In the new scramble for Africa, China appears to be a winner on all fronts—getting lucrative deals while choosing not to interfere in the internal politics of nations. And, if these nations increase their purchasing power with time, China sees a...

China: AOL arrives

  27 April 2006

In ‘Congratulations and Controversy‘, AngryChineseBlogger chunlin looks at the arduous road AOL has been down in trying to establish a presence in China. “After months of speculation, anticipation, and a few false starts,” chunlin announces, “AOL has this month announced the finalization of a multi-million dollar partnership deal with SMG...

Hong Kong: Japanese retailer leaving

  27 April 2006

With Hemlock's Diary this week comes reminiscing of times gone by with Hong Kong's last Japanese-owned department store, Mitsukoshi, announcing plans to leave the Special Administrative Region. “The name brings back memories of a bygone era—the time before Causeway Bay collapsed under the weight of vehicle emissions and Mainland tourists,”...

Iran: Contractual Workers Fired!

Jomhour (Persian) writes that there are collective firings of contractual workers in all over country. He adds on the other side of story government appointed employees and workers have benefited a sharp raise in their salaries. Blogger says this raise has nothing to do with productivity of these workers. This...

China: Red but greening

  26 April 2006

In ‘Is China Going Green, Part VIII?‘, China Law Blog‘s Dan Harris relates a Wall Street Journal story on increasing environmental awareness in the rapidly-developing Asian country to his own experiences there: “We have found the same thing in our China work for foreign companies, particularly in the last few...

Belize: VoIP blocked by local telecom

  26 April 2006

Melody reports that Belize Telecommunications Limited has been blocking VoIP connections in the country and calls for users’ assistance in surveying the effects of the blocking on their internet usage. “They have gone as far as jamming chat and messenger programs like GoogleTalk, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Voice and other,” Melody...

Romania: Kiosk As A Local Version Of Wal-Mart

  25 April 2006

An American in Romania writes about “the Romanian version of Wal-Mart”: “The Romanian kiosk looks nothing like a Wal-Mart, that's why it is so deceptive. It's a tiny building with room inside for one or maybe two people tops. You could probably link arms with three of your friends and...