December 2002 Edition
McFACTS
According to the London Observer, there are more than 30,000 McDonalds restaurants in 121 countries with, on average, 4.2 new ones opening each day. Worldwide, one in 200 people visit Mcdonalds daily. The company is the largest toy distributor in the world. One in three of all cattle in the U.S. bred for meat is destined for use by McDonalds. However, McDonalds have just announced they will shortly close about 175 restaurants worldwide.
NEWS
A 2000 poll found that more than one third of Americans under 30 now get their news primarily from late-night comedians and that 79 per cent of this age group (and half of the adult population generally) say they sometimes or regularly get political information from comedy programmes or non-traditional outlets such as MTV.
COMPENSATION
A new draft law passed by the European Parliament will require airlines to pay heavy compensation to customers unable to travel because of overbooking, cancellation or delay. The law calls for compensation of up to $750.00 for delayed or stranded air passengers. Also, catering and accommodation must be provided where necessary. Bigger carriers, which already have compensation schemes, have welcomed the news.
DROUGHT
The summer drought in many parts of the continent is now hitting consumers as they face substantial price hikes for bread and other baked goods because flour and other ingredients are more expensive. Prices of these baked products--and packaged flour-- are rising as much as 10 per cent. Other wheat-based items, such as cereal and pet foods, may follow suit before too long.
PLANES
Boeing Co. expects China to buy 1,912 new aircraft during the next 20 years. The aircraft purchases in the 2001-2020 period will be worth a total of US$165-billion. Boeing now has 392 jets in service in China giving it a 65-per cent share of the country's 605-passenger airliner fleet. China's domestic air travel market is growing at a rate of 7.6 per cent annually.
ANIMALS
The European Union is set to ban animal testing in cosmetics and will stop imports that do so. Companies use animals for tests on skin corrosion and absorbtion, eye irritancy and whether there is a lethal dose of the cosmetic. Animals used in research include rabbits, cats, hamsters, mice and monkeys. The deal must be ratified by the 15 nations that make up the EU and the law is slated to go into effect in 2009.
FASHION
The Mount Fuji Spinning Co. of Japan has been working on a range of garments--including knee-length sports pants, two types of girdle and men's boxer shorts--that make people thinner. Each WonderSlim garment is impregnated with a mixture of seaweed and caffeine, which is massaged into the skin by movements of the wearer. After 30 days of wear, half the people in a test said they had lost a few millimetres.
TRIVIA
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. The first microwave was as large and heavy as a refrigerator.
COMPARISONS
Recently, two information-technology firms on opposite sides of the world announced quarterly results. One large Texas-based computer sciences giant announced that sales were down by three per cent, new business down more than 50 per cent and job cuts for 5,000 employees. But for an equivalent Indian software firm the opposite was true. Revenues were up 35 per cent, profits increased 12 per cent and new hires hit nearly 2,000.
TRADE
China and the countries of South-East Asia, which agreed last year to give their economies a lift by removing tariffs on commerce, have moved closer to their goal by adopting a framework for conducting trade negotiations. Under the agreement, duties on China's trade with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines will fall to zero by 2010. The China-ASEAN free-trade area, which will combine 1.7 billion people, will be the biggest in the world by size of its population. Its combined gross domestic product stands at $3.56 trillion.
CREDIBILITY
An international consumers organization is warning Web users about the credibility of some Internet sites. Consumers International, a federation of 250 organizations around the world, has released a study of more than 450 Web sites. Researchers examined health, financial and price-comparison sites and found misleading, inaccurate and incomplete information. The organization reports that the results of the study are alarming as the majority of consumers using the Web are relying on it for credible information they can trust.
FOR RENT
Cow Placard Co. of Switzerland paints logos and slogans on the sides of animals, transforming them into living billboards. One of the first branded cows featured the logo of a Swiss clothing company. Cost per cow: About $375. Animal rights groups are not amused.
GIZMOS
A new device is being used to cram even more ads into TV hit programs. Called a Time Machine, the device strips out about 3 per cent of the video frames from a show shortening its length. The station fills the extra time with advertising, padding its bottom line. The devices appear to be legal but might contravene network agreements that prevent affiliates from altering programmes. Unlike US broadcasters, Canadian stations face limits on how much advertising they can run.
BUGLES
In the face of a serious shortage of military buglers to play at funerals, the Pentagon is to test a British inventor's electronic version, which can be played by non-musicians. There are fewer than 500 buglers in the U.S. military and the number of military funerals has risen to some 100,000 a year. Honour guards now attend thousands of funerals equipped with a portable stereo and a CD recording of a bugle which the Pentagon feels lacks the "dignified visual" of a real bugler.
WIND
The Canadian province which is leading the fight against the Kyoto will soon be home to the country's largest wind farm. The plan is to build a wind farm in southern Alberta with 114 wind turbines which is expected to produce enough electricity to power 32,500 homes. The project will cost C$100-million and should be fully operational by the end of 2003.
SCREENS
Two British companies have joined forces to become a world leader in the technology of glowing plastics. By 2005, this should yield the first roll-up computer screens and TVs. Hopes for this technology are high because polymers that emit light do not require a backlight used in the current generation of flat screen liquid crystal displays (LCDs). It makes them energy efficient and much thinner--so thin that they can be folded.
SOAP
According to a new study, anti-bacterial soap does not work. A team followed 238 housewives in New York City. Half of them got anti-microbial soap for daily hand washing, the other half was given plain soap. The soap was not labelled. Researchers discovered that both groups had fewer germs on their hands after washing, but there was no difference between the two groups.
WINE
The market for Washington State wine is being expanded in British Columbia. B.C., which has its own winemaking industry in the Okanagan region, is opening its borders to wines from eight more Washington wineries, bringing to 32 the total that may sell in B.C. Washington has about 210 wineries and ranks as the second-largest wine producer in the U.S., making about 42 million litres a year. California, the number one producer, makes about two billion litres a year.
BORDERS
In a distant frontier of commerce, just across the Russian border in Southern Siberia, China's World Trade Organization agreement is being put to the test. Suifenhe is an obscure spot on the global trade map. It is mainly a transit point for small-time traders where Russians import Chinese made clothes and electrical appliances and the Chinese import Russian food and timber. Now, the U.S. and Canadian governments have expressed concern about cheap Russian exports slipping into China, squeezing their companies out of a lucrative market and possibly violating WTO rules.
DRILLS
The tell-tale noise of a DIY enthusiast at work, the whine of the electric drill, may soon be a thing of the past. A silent, steady and dust-free way to drill holes in walls has been found. It could also replace the dentists drill one day. The drill's key component comes from a domestic microwave oven and it works by focusing microwave radiation at a spot just beneath the surface of any hard material. As the temperature increases, the surrounding material's ability to absorb radiation increases, starting a runaway reaction so that a molten hotspot evolves. The drill tip is pushed into the softened material to form a hole.
GREAT LAKES
Scientists who study the Great Lakes ecosystem are concerned about the growing concentration of pharmaceuticals in the water. Tests of water samples taken near sewage-treatment plants in 14 different cities as well as in open water at various points along the Great Lakes found traces of a number of drugs. The flow of pharmaceuticals such as painkillers and birth-control pills into the water is becoming of increasing concern.
LABELS
The Grocery Manufacturers of America have endorsed The U.S. Department of Agriculture's national organic programme as a way to provide consumers with accurate labelling information about organic foods and ingredients. The new standards provide food manufacturers with four labelling options: 100 per cent organic, 95-100 per cent organic, at least 70 per cent organic or that contain only specific organic ingredients.
WATER
Russians are up in arms over a plan to sell water from the world's largest freshwater lake, Lake Baikal. The lake fills a crevice that runs 1,600 meters in depth and more than 600 kilometres long. It contains more volume of fresh water than the Canadian Great Lakes combined. With more than 2,500 species of plants and animals in its waters and along its shores it is as diverse a place as can be found in Siberia. The lake is around 25 million years old. Free-market enthusiasts want to build a pipeline, several thousand kilometres long, to the parched lands of China.
SALES
More Canadians work at selling than any other job. According to the last available census figures, 554,000 men and women work in retail sales. Secretaries were the second-most common job, with 317,000, but if you add the first, third and fourth most-popular jobs--retail trade managers, and cashiers, then retail truly dominates, employing 1.1 million in Canada. The least-common job recorded was meteorological technicians with 910 counted.
SCORES
A soccer team in Madagascar lost by a record 149 goals to nil. To protest against allegedly biased refereeing, they kicked shot after shot into their own net.
Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.
Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp
According to the London Observer, there are more than 30,000 McDonalds restaurants in 121 countries with, on average, 4.2 new ones opening each day. Worldwide, one in 200 people visit Mcdonalds daily. The company is the largest toy distributor in the world. One in three of all cattle in the U.S. bred for meat is destined for use by McDonalds. However, McDonalds have just announced they will shortly close about 175 restaurants worldwide.
NEWS
A 2000 poll found that more than one third of Americans under 30 now get their news primarily from late-night comedians and that 79 per cent of this age group (and half of the adult population generally) say they sometimes or regularly get political information from comedy programmes or non-traditional outlets such as MTV.
COMPENSATION
A new draft law passed by the European Parliament will require airlines to pay heavy compensation to customers unable to travel because of overbooking, cancellation or delay. The law calls for compensation of up to $750.00 for delayed or stranded air passengers. Also, catering and accommodation must be provided where necessary. Bigger carriers, which already have compensation schemes, have welcomed the news.
DROUGHT
The summer drought in many parts of the continent is now hitting consumers as they face substantial price hikes for bread and other baked goods because flour and other ingredients are more expensive. Prices of these baked products--and packaged flour-- are rising as much as 10 per cent. Other wheat-based items, such as cereal and pet foods, may follow suit before too long.
PLANES
Boeing Co. expects China to buy 1,912 new aircraft during the next 20 years. The aircraft purchases in the 2001-2020 period will be worth a total of US$165-billion. Boeing now has 392 jets in service in China giving it a 65-per cent share of the country's 605-passenger airliner fleet. China's domestic air travel market is growing at a rate of 7.6 per cent annually.
ANIMALS
The European Union is set to ban animal testing in cosmetics and will stop imports that do so. Companies use animals for tests on skin corrosion and absorbtion, eye irritancy and whether there is a lethal dose of the cosmetic. Animals used in research include rabbits, cats, hamsters, mice and monkeys. The deal must be ratified by the 15 nations that make up the EU and the law is slated to go into effect in 2009.
FASHION
The Mount Fuji Spinning Co. of Japan has been working on a range of garments--including knee-length sports pants, two types of girdle and men's boxer shorts--that make people thinner. Each WonderSlim garment is impregnated with a mixture of seaweed and caffeine, which is massaged into the skin by movements of the wearer. After 30 days of wear, half the people in a test said they had lost a few millimetres.
TRIVIA
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. The first microwave was as large and heavy as a refrigerator.
COMPARISONS
Recently, two information-technology firms on opposite sides of the world announced quarterly results. One large Texas-based computer sciences giant announced that sales were down by three per cent, new business down more than 50 per cent and job cuts for 5,000 employees. But for an equivalent Indian software firm the opposite was true. Revenues were up 35 per cent, profits increased 12 per cent and new hires hit nearly 2,000.
TRADE
China and the countries of South-East Asia, which agreed last year to give their economies a lift by removing tariffs on commerce, have moved closer to their goal by adopting a framework for conducting trade negotiations. Under the agreement, duties on China's trade with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines will fall to zero by 2010. The China-ASEAN free-trade area, which will combine 1.7 billion people, will be the biggest in the world by size of its population. Its combined gross domestic product stands at $3.56 trillion.
CREDIBILITY
An international consumers organization is warning Web users about the credibility of some Internet sites. Consumers International, a federation of 250 organizations around the world, has released a study of more than 450 Web sites. Researchers examined health, financial and price-comparison sites and found misleading, inaccurate and incomplete information. The organization reports that the results of the study are alarming as the majority of consumers using the Web are relying on it for credible information they can trust.
FOR RENT
Cow Placard Co. of Switzerland paints logos and slogans on the sides of animals, transforming them into living billboards. One of the first branded cows featured the logo of a Swiss clothing company. Cost per cow: About $375. Animal rights groups are not amused.
GIZMOS
A new device is being used to cram even more ads into TV hit programs. Called a Time Machine, the device strips out about 3 per cent of the video frames from a show shortening its length. The station fills the extra time with advertising, padding its bottom line. The devices appear to be legal but might contravene network agreements that prevent affiliates from altering programmes. Unlike US broadcasters, Canadian stations face limits on how much advertising they can run.
BUGLES
In the face of a serious shortage of military buglers to play at funerals, the Pentagon is to test a British inventor's electronic version, which can be played by non-musicians. There are fewer than 500 buglers in the U.S. military and the number of military funerals has risen to some 100,000 a year. Honour guards now attend thousands of funerals equipped with a portable stereo and a CD recording of a bugle which the Pentagon feels lacks the "dignified visual" of a real bugler.
WIND
The Canadian province which is leading the fight against the Kyoto will soon be home to the country's largest wind farm. The plan is to build a wind farm in southern Alberta with 114 wind turbines which is expected to produce enough electricity to power 32,500 homes. The project will cost C$100-million and should be fully operational by the end of 2003.
SCREENS
Two British companies have joined forces to become a world leader in the technology of glowing plastics. By 2005, this should yield the first roll-up computer screens and TVs. Hopes for this technology are high because polymers that emit light do not require a backlight used in the current generation of flat screen liquid crystal displays (LCDs). It makes them energy efficient and much thinner--so thin that they can be folded.
SOAP
According to a new study, anti-bacterial soap does not work. A team followed 238 housewives in New York City. Half of them got anti-microbial soap for daily hand washing, the other half was given plain soap. The soap was not labelled. Researchers discovered that both groups had fewer germs on their hands after washing, but there was no difference between the two groups.
WINE
The market for Washington State wine is being expanded in British Columbia. B.C., which has its own winemaking industry in the Okanagan region, is opening its borders to wines from eight more Washington wineries, bringing to 32 the total that may sell in B.C. Washington has about 210 wineries and ranks as the second-largest wine producer in the U.S., making about 42 million litres a year. California, the number one producer, makes about two billion litres a year.
BORDERS
In a distant frontier of commerce, just across the Russian border in Southern Siberia, China's World Trade Organization agreement is being put to the test. Suifenhe is an obscure spot on the global trade map. It is mainly a transit point for small-time traders where Russians import Chinese made clothes and electrical appliances and the Chinese import Russian food and timber. Now, the U.S. and Canadian governments have expressed concern about cheap Russian exports slipping into China, squeezing their companies out of a lucrative market and possibly violating WTO rules.
DRILLS
The tell-tale noise of a DIY enthusiast at work, the whine of the electric drill, may soon be a thing of the past. A silent, steady and dust-free way to drill holes in walls has been found. It could also replace the dentists drill one day. The drill's key component comes from a domestic microwave oven and it works by focusing microwave radiation at a spot just beneath the surface of any hard material. As the temperature increases, the surrounding material's ability to absorb radiation increases, starting a runaway reaction so that a molten hotspot evolves. The drill tip is pushed into the softened material to form a hole.
GREAT LAKES
Scientists who study the Great Lakes ecosystem are concerned about the growing concentration of pharmaceuticals in the water. Tests of water samples taken near sewage-treatment plants in 14 different cities as well as in open water at various points along the Great Lakes found traces of a number of drugs. The flow of pharmaceuticals such as painkillers and birth-control pills into the water is becoming of increasing concern.
LABELS
The Grocery Manufacturers of America have endorsed The U.S. Department of Agriculture's national organic programme as a way to provide consumers with accurate labelling information about organic foods and ingredients. The new standards provide food manufacturers with four labelling options: 100 per cent organic, 95-100 per cent organic, at least 70 per cent organic or that contain only specific organic ingredients.
WATER
Russians are up in arms over a plan to sell water from the world's largest freshwater lake, Lake Baikal. The lake fills a crevice that runs 1,600 meters in depth and more than 600 kilometres long. It contains more volume of fresh water than the Canadian Great Lakes combined. With more than 2,500 species of plants and animals in its waters and along its shores it is as diverse a place as can be found in Siberia. The lake is around 25 million years old. Free-market enthusiasts want to build a pipeline, several thousand kilometres long, to the parched lands of China.
SALES
More Canadians work at selling than any other job. According to the last available census figures, 554,000 men and women work in retail sales. Secretaries were the second-most common job, with 317,000, but if you add the first, third and fourth most-popular jobs--retail trade managers, and cashiers, then retail truly dominates, employing 1.1 million in Canada. The least-common job recorded was meteorological technicians with 910 counted.
SCORES
A soccer team in Madagascar lost by a record 149 goals to nil. To protest against allegedly biased refereeing, they kicked shot after shot into their own net.
Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.
Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp
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