International News - May 2006

Bangladesh Jail Guards to Shed British Colonial-era Uniforms

Bangladesh, April 8, 2006 (Yahoo News) - Bangladesh announced it planned to bid farewell to a last vestige of British colonial rule -- khaki uniforms still sported by the nation's prison guards.

"All 7,000 jail guards will now wear green uniforms," Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General Zakir Hassan told AFP on Saturday.

"The jail guards don't look smart or feel good in their British-era khaki uniforms. This dampens morale and they lack pride in their uniforms," he said, adding the final decision was taken by a ministerial-led government committee.

"Jail guards are the only law-enforcers still wearing British colonial uniforms. The army, police and the (paramilitary) Bangladesh Rifles all changed their khaki uniforms a long time back," he said.

The prison head has introduced a slew of changes since his appointment five months ago to help clean up Bangladesh's 66 prisons notorious for congestion and crime such as drug dealing.

Hassan said the new uniform, to be issued soon, would make prison guards look more professional, boost their confidence and lead to better performance.

British colonial rule of the subcontinent ended in 1947.

Honduras and Nicaragua joined El Salvador in CAFTA on April 1

Washington, March 31, 2006 (Emerging Textiles) - The US government confirmed Honduras and Nicaragua have now joined CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement. This eases previous concerns that the April 1 target date would be pushed back to July. The US also confirms it is seeking to solve confusion over duty-free access for CAFTA products containing inputs from other countries awaiting ratification.

Both countries had completed and implemented necessary changes in their laws and regulations as a condition to inclusion.

In a statement to press, US Trade Representative Rob Portman, confirmed April 1 as the date of entry into force. He also confirmed that the US is to continue working on other outstanding issues with the remaining countries and the problem concerning duty free access.

CAFTA should have been simultaneously introduced in the seven signatory countries: Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the US on January 1.

Previously, only El Salvador and the US were part of the agreement. Those other countries in the region waiting to join CAFTA remained in the CBTPA.

As a result, Salvadorian products using inputs from these countries were not be eligible for duty-free access in the US.

Washington has however agreed to a process of duty refunds paid for imports from El Salvador using inputs from the other five countries awaiting CAFTA ratification.

This will apply to all goods exported from January 1, 2004, and companies have until December 31, 2006 to make an application for the refund.

However, this could be problematic regarding Costa Rica as it is unclear as to if and when the country will see CAFTA come into force.

Costa Rica's President Arias has vowed to push CAFTA through but his National Liberation Party does not have a majority in Congress.

The Dominican Republic is committed to see CAFTA come into force on July 1. Meanwhile, Guatemala continues to work on implementation and has agreed to modify at least 10 national laws in order to meet US demands.

CITA (US inter-agency Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements) has just released interim procedures for considering requests under the commercial availability provision of CAFTA.

This means where sufficient inputs from either the US or CAFTA members do not exist, applications can be made to use inputs from outside the region. Finished products would still need to conform with specific Rules of Origin (RoO).

CAFTA's promise of duty-free textile exports to the US market is being tapped into from Asian producers. The Taiwanese Nien Hsing Textile Company, the world's largest manufacturer of denim cloths, has announced it is expanding its textile operations in Nicaragua.

The project is scheduled to commence by the end of the year following total investment in the country so far of $117.65 million. This will be at the expense of its Mexican production where it will slash its current workforce from 1200 to just 700 and reduce current output.

Scottish Officers Give Thumbs Down to New Uniforms

Scotland, April 8, 2006 (Daily Record) - Cops went on style strike after their trendy new uniform trousers turned out to be 70s-style flares.

Tayside Police officers had been expecting cargo-style pants as part of their new uniform - but were badly disappointed.

They refused to wear the saggy slacks, forcing police chiefs to delay the issue of the uniforms.

A source said: "People say they look like something John Travolta wore in Saturday Night Fever.

"Seventies fashions might have made a return to the high street, but flares are not the sort of thing you want to wear on the beat.

"They were OK for Starsky and Hutch but not for police work in Dundee."

Pension Deficit Sinks Historic Firm

London, April 20, 2006 (Times of London) - The 329-year-old Birmingham company that made the buttons on Lord Nelson’s uniforms has been put into administration after the £2 million deficit in its pension fund scared off potential buyers.

Moore Stephens, the administrator, was called in last week to Firmin & Sons, the military button and regalia manufacturer. Sir Digby Jones, the outgoing Director-General of the CBI, yesterday blamed the Government’s pensions policy for sending the company out of business.

Sir Digby, a former Birmingham lawyer, said: “They’ve taken a viable business and made it into a liability for the Pension Protection Fund.” The Fund provides a safety net for pension funds of firms that have gone out of business.

Firmin’s sales rose by 16 percent to £3.4 million in 2005 and the company recently won a share of a five-year contract to supply the Ministry of Defense with buttons and badges. But a long delay in finalizing the contract hit the company’s cashflow.

The company’s pension liabilities are thought to have deterred buyers and joint venture partners from acquiring it. When its pension fund closed to new members in 2000 it was fully funded, but improving mortality rates, as well as a move to reduce the retirement age of the company’s male workers from 65 to 60, is believed to have pushed the scheme’s deficit as high as £2 million.

Moore Stephens has kept Birmingham’s oldest company open in the hope of finding a “white knight” purchaser, but the administrator has admitted that the final-salary pension scheme will probably have to be wound up. The administrator has already cut 11 of the company’s 70 jobs.

Sir Digby visited Firmin last November, when he struck the first of 15,000 cap badges for the new Royal Regiment of Scotland. He said yesterday that pressure from the new Pensions Regulator on the buyer or seller to plug any pension deficit before a sale could go ahead meant that the acquisition of companies such as Firmin were being stymied.

“It’s a condemnation of Government’s policy on pensions that a company that’s done everything asked of the manufacturing sector — being value-added, innovative, with a better brand you couldn’t ask for — has gone into administration,” he said.

“I’d ask all the Government, the Pensions Regulator, all the people who are attacking private sector pensions, to look at Firmin & Sons and ask: ‘Is this what we really wanted?’ ” Moore Stephens was yesterday unavailable for comment.