The pandemic has thrown publishing and booksellers into crisis – and left customers struggling to obtain books when they most want them. But some in the industry sense an opportunity to drag it into the 21st century

On 18 March, Emma Corfield-Walters received the news that for the second year running, her shop, Book-ish, in Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons, had landed the title for Wales in the regional round of the independent bookshop of the year award. Corfield-Walters has run Book-ish for 10 years. It has 16 staff and a cafe, is the base for a literary festival that she also organises, and is credited with having played a major part in the regeneration of Crickhowell’s award-winning high street. Above all, it is a highly successful business: 2019 was a record year. The fact that it would now again be a contender for the overall prize – to be announced in June at the British book awards – was for Corfield-Walters a hard-earned affirmation of a decade’s passion and work.

But she was hardly celebrating. Britain was then five days from lockdown. “It was surreal,” she says. “We’d won best bookshop in Wales, yet I wasn’t sure for how much longer I’d have a shop that people could visit. It was like that scene in Star Wars when the walls are moving in, and the room’s getting smaller and smaller. The goalposts were shifting every day. At first, we thought: OK, we’ll buy hand sanitiser! But by the weekend, it was clear the shop would have to close.” Her first thought was for her staff, who are “like family” to her; the government’s subsequent announcement of its furlough scheme came as a huge relief. But there was also the question of her stock, and how she might keep selling it. Suddenly, the Book-ish website, hitherto used only to sell event tickets and signed copies, came into its own: “On the Saturday before lockdown began, we managed to get all 6,000 titles from the shop on to our website.”

In the latest instalment of our Hindsight In 2020 series: The first baseman had one of the prettiest swings in baseball, but manager Cito Gaston and hitting coach Willie Upshaw wanted Olerud to generate more power.

Former Essendon captain Brendon Goddard firmly believes Joe Daniher will be a Sydney Swans player for the 2021 season.

China fires its first shot in an increasingly bitter diplomatic row, threatening to slap major tariffs on Australia's barley exports, that could rip hundreds of millions from the trade.

Leaders of Unison, Unite, the GMB and Usdaw join TUC in calling for radical overhaul of health and safety in the workplace
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Britain’s biggest trades unions have warned Boris Johnson that they will not recommend a return to work for their three million members until the government and employers agree a nationwide health and safety revolution as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a letter to the Observer, leaders of the “big four” – Unison, Unite, the GMB and Usdaw – together with the Trades Union Congress, say many of their members have already lost their lives “transporting people and goods, protecting the public and caring for the vulnerable”.

Key Indian equity market indices opened flat on Friday following global cues.

New trade data measured in value-added terms shows that services – such as logistics, design, and transportation - are far more important to global commerce than they appear in traditional calculations of exports and imports.

18 November 2013 - Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Week 2013 opened in Bangkok today with a regional conference on responsible business practices jointly organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This report covers investment measures taken between mid May and mid November 2013 and was prepared in response to the G20 Leaders' request of 2 April 2009 for quarterly public reporting on their adherence to their trade and investment policy commitments.

Excess capacity in steel as growth in investment projects outpaces demand will pose risks for the sector for the foreseeable future, according to industry and government officials at the OECD’s Steel Committee meeting in Cape Town on 12 December 2014. The risk of trade conflicts in the industry also appears to have increased of late, they said, and Committee members discussed options for closer co-operation to try and prevent disputes.

Imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5% of global imports, with US, Italian and French brands the hardest hit and many of the proceeds going to organised crime, according to a new report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

Evidence on the role played by investment in global value chains (GVCs) can assist policy work on GVCs, trade, investment and development. Drawing on new and improved measures of trade and investment, these country notes provide relevant statistical information from OECD databases on trade, investment, the activities of multinational enterprises and global value chains.

Inconsistent penalties, insufficient checks on small parcels, and a lack of information on shipments in free trade zones allow criminal networks to traffic billions of dollars worth of fake and prohibited goods each year. Today, the OECD introduced a new phase in its efforts to help governments counter these enforcement gaps and better protect consumers and businesses.

Rapid growth in free trade zones – where economic activity is driven by reduced taxes and customs controls, light regulation and limited oversight – is unintentionally fostering growth in counterfeit goods trafficking, according to a new report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

Global trade in fake Italian goods such as luxury handbags, watches, foodstuffs and car parts is taking a bite out of Italy’s economy equivalent to around 1-2% of GDP in terms of lost sales, according to a new OECD report.

25/04/2019-Global value chains (GVCs) have sharpened the interdependencies between trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). Using a novel micro-level dataset covering about 27 000 corporate relationships of 147 multinational enterprises (MNEs) in 13 sectors, new evidence is provided on how firms organise their production globally by combining trade with investment, and on a range of non-equity, contract-based partnerships.

Drawing on the 2018 update of the OECD’s Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) database, this paper explores the evolution of trade in value added between 2005 and 2015. Changes in international production systems are examined with particular attention given to four key sectors heavily integrated into global value chains: textiles and apparel, chemicals, ICT and electronics, and motor vehicles.

G20 Leaders are firmly committed to open trade and investment and to resisting protectionism in all its forms. They have mandated WTO, OECD and UNCTAD – the leading international organisations in the area of international trade and investment policies – to monitor policy developments and report publicly on these commitments.

Recent seizures of fake medical supplies being marketed as protection against Covid-19 underscore the need to address a growing international trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals that is costing billions of euros a year and putting lives at risk, according to the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

We are so used to all things digital that we can sometimes lose sight of just how enormous the phenomenon has become, and how disruptive it can be.

Developing effective policies to reduce illegal trade in environmentally sensitive goods requires a clear understanding of what drives this trade and the circumstances under which it thrives, says this report.

The rise in international investment and trade in goods and services related to renewable energy has been rapid but not always smooth. This paper surveys, through the lenses of market-pull and technology-push policies, the numerous domestic incentives used by governments to promote renewable energy, focusing on those that might have implications for trade.

This paper provides an update on recent developments in the field of Regional Trade Agreements and the environment. Issues arising in the implementation of RTAs with environmental considerations are examined as well as experience in assessing their environmental impacts.

This report explores potential effects of the recent rapid growth in Environmental Labelling Information Schemes (ELIS) around the world, with a focus on the implications of ELIS multiplication for environmental effectiveness and international trade.

The OECD will convene its 6th Workshop on Regional trade agreements and the environment on 10 June 2016, at the OECD Headquarters. The focus of the workshop will be on chapters of regional trade agreement (RTAs) that are concerned mainly with issues other than the environment, such as market access, investment, or government procurement, TBT, regulatory coherence or dispute settlement.

This report provides an analysis of how climate change damages may affect international trade in the coming decades and how international trade can help limit the costs of climate change. It analyses the impacts of climate change on trade considering both direct effects on infrastructure and transport routes and the indirect economic impacts resulting from changes in endowments and production.

This report examines the implications of regional climate governance for international trade and conversely the implications of regional trade governance for climate change action. Regional approaches to climate change governance are discussed with a specific focus on the rise of “climate clubs” and their implications for international trade.

This paper analyses the reform undertaken by Iceland to avert a looming crisis and restore fish stocks to sustainable levels; and outlines the process involved in designing and implementing this reform. It also reflects on the challenges encountered and the environmental, economic and social impacts of the reform. This country study draws on the OECD report "The Political Economy of Biodiversity Policy Reform".

This report focuses on the extent to which governments have complied with the environmental commitments made in the trade agreements to which they are a Party. The report takes a two track approach. First, a review of implementation and evaluation reports associated with environmental provisions in such agreements is performed. Second, a survey of government officials, trade negotiators and other experts is carried out.

This paper aims to test whether the inclusion of environmental provisions in Regional Trade Agreements has contributed to the improvement of environmental quality among the Parties to these agreements through empirical modelling and analysis. Three indicators are considered as a proxy for environmental quality: concentrations of suspended particulate matter less than 2.5 microns, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

This Policy Paper comprises the Background Report prepared by the OECD for the G7 Environment, Energy and Oceans Ministers (19-21 September, Canada). It provides an overview of current plastics production and use, the environmental impacts that this is generating and identifies the reasons for currently low plastics recycling rates, as well as what can be done about it.

The transition towards a resource efficient and circular economy has linkages with international trade through the emergence of global value chains as well as trade in second-hand goods, end-of-life products, secondary materials and waste. This paper highlights the interaction of international trade and the circular economy in order to map out potential issues to address and to guide further research areas to explore on this topic.

This report investigates in what ways Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) could incorporate environmental objectives in chapters and articles related to subsidies for energy and environmental goods. It highlights the current state of play in incorporating provisions related to environmentally related subsidies in RTAs.

To benefit fully from cross-border trade in electricity, interconnected countries need to establish a non-discriminatory trading regime based on co-operation and co-ordination, says this study of trade in renewables-based electric power in Europe.

On 7 May 2015, the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) will hold a webinar on 'Trade and Green Growth: Measuring the impact of environmental policy on economic competitiveness' from 1-2 PM Geneva time.

The Annual Summit of the International Transport Forum is the unique platform for a global conversation on strategies for transport in the 21st century. It took place in Leipzig, Germany from 27-29 May 2015, under the Presidency of New Zealand under the theme "Transport, Trade and Tourism".

To mark the opening of the International Transport Forum’s Annual Summit, today’s post addresses three broad issues of the complex and multidimensional triangular relationship between transport, trade and tourism.

Creeping protectionism is alive and well. Last year’s monitoring report on trade for the G20 reminded us that of the nearly 1,500 trade-restrictive measures imposed by G20 countries since 2008, fewer than 400 have been removed. The stock of these barriers continues to grow, despite a pledge by the G20 to reduce protectionism.

Recent seizures of fake medical supplies being marketed as protection against coronavirus (Covid-19) have underscored the need to address a growing international trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals. The trafficking of fake or defective medicines is costly and puts lives at risk, according to the new OECD and EU reports.

Better services trade policy can stimulate inclusive economic growth by promoting access to the information, skills, technology, funding and markets needed for success in an increasingly digital global economy, according to a new OECD report.

OECD Deputy Secretary-General Doug Frantz and EUIPO Executive Director António Campinos will launch the joint report “Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods: Mapping the Economic Impact” at 12:00 CET on Monday 18 April at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris.

In the face of shifting global trade patterns, international freight transport volumes will grow more than fourfold (factor 4.3) by 2050. Average transport distance across all modes will increase 12%, according to the latest ITF Transport Outlook.

Today, OECD Council adopted the Recommendation on Countering the Illegal Trade of Pesticides to strengthen cooperation between countries and inspectors and identify illegal pesticides throughout their lifecycle with a Best Practice Guidance.

The Ecclestone case illustrates that power is migrating away from votes and towards money

Top five areas investors should focus on when buying an ETF

List for Admission after two weeks on a date to be fixed by the Registry.

Interim order is extended till the next date.

Page No.# 2/2 JUDGE Comparing Assistant

Host Ant McPartlin was forced to wipe away a tear after watching the audition featuring Amanda Leask and her dog Miracle, who was rescued from the illegal meat trade.

Host Ant McPartlin was forced to wipe away a tear after watching the audition featuring Amanda Leask and her dog Miracle, who was rescued from the illegal meat trade.

The concessions given by the UP government to traders will prove to be a pace setter for the revival of economic activity in the state at a time when the nation is going through a rough phase due to the COVID-19 outbreak, UP Vyapaari Kalyan Board chairman Ravi Kant Garg said. He said the exemption from labour laws for three years is bound to open gates for economic growth that was hit by the coronavirus lockdown. Such measures will spur economic activities and boost the investment climate in the state, Garg said while talking to a group of reporters on Saturday evening. He further said that exemption of 46 variety of fruits and vegetables from the clutches of Mandi Adhiniyam Suchana through Krashi Utapadan Mandi Adhiniyam (Sansodhan) ordinance 2020 would boost the trade. It is bound to help farmers as well as traders, he added. Now, the farmer would be free to sell his produce outside Mandi Parishad. Exemption of Mandi shulk (Mandi tax) from 46 variety of grains would provide maximum .