Archives
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010

December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009

December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008

December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007

December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006

December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005

December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004

December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003

December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002

December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001

December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000

December 1999
November 1999
October 1999
September 1999
August 1999
June 1999
May 1999
April 1999

April 1998

News archives

Monday, November 29, 2004

US Prez to Eat Canadian Beef
OTTAWA The United States has yet to reopen its borders to imports of live Canadian cattle but that won't keep Ottawa from serving beef to U.S. President George W. Bush at an official dinner this week. Washington slammed the door in May 2003 after a single case of mad cow disease was found in ... Continued...

Children Pay Cost of Iraq's Chaos
BAGHDAD -- Acute malnutrition among young children in Iraq has nearly doubled since the United States led an invasion of the country 20 months ago, according to surveys by the United Nations, aid agencies and the interim Iraqi government. After the rate of acute malnutrition among children y... Continued...

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

USDA Rules Out Mad Cow Disease in Animal
Definitive testing has ruled out mad cow disease in an animal that federal officials had identified last week as a potential carrier, officials said yesterday. The result cheered the beef industry, which had braced itself to hear that a second case of mad cow disease had been discovered in the... Continued...

Nafta, Redux
Dogfights in Capitol Hill over free-trade pacts usually pop up not long after presidential elections. Back in 1993, Bill Clinton doled out promises to everybody and their mother to get the North American Free Trade Agreement passed, while President Bush in 2001 had his Congressional allies actual... Continued...

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

No mad cow: Tests come back negative
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A cow the U.S. Department of Agriculture had suspected of carrying mad cow disease was declared free of the illness after follow-up tests, officials said Tuesday. The announcement was a relief to the U.S. beef industry, which still is trying to recover from the nation's first cas... Continued...

US Gets Tough to Rice Market Access
South Korea is facing last-minute pressure from the United States, with conflict over its conditions for allowing another suspension of the opening of Korea's rice market.Instead of China, the U.S. has emerged as Seoul's biggest obstacle, as Beijing has shown signs of flexibility in its demands whil... Continued...

Ten European Countries Voice Fears Over Sugar Reforms
Ten European countries voiced fears late Monday over a plan to overhaul sugar production in the European Union, saying that proposed reforms "depart from the fundamental principles" of the EU's common agricultural policy. In a letter delivered to new Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel ... Continued...

Hemispheric Trade Zone Stumbles
President Bush returned to the US after a long weekend of talks in Latin America Monday, having addressed, at least briefly, several long-neglected regional issues: Mexican immigration, the war on drugs, and China's increasing influence on the continent. But one subject he skirted was the plan for a... Continued...

APEC Talks Tough But Ducks Free Trade Deal
ASIA-Pacific leaders talked tough against terrorism and North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions at their summit in Chile yesterday, but they ducked a radical plan for free trade across their region. US President George W. Bush's "war on terror" engulfed the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Co-oper... Continued...

Mandelson Wades Into Trade Radicals: NGOs Are Unimpressed By Vision Of 'Benign' Globalisation
Peter Mandelson, the new EU trade commissioner, yesterday signalled his determination to take on radical campaigners and non-governmental organisations fighting liberalisation of global economic markets. On his first official day in office, the former Labour cabinet minister and continuing confid... Continued...

Potable Salt Water Will Cost Rs. 45 Per Cu. Metre
Drinking water acquired by desalinating seawater costs an estimated Rs. 45 per cubic metre, according to a new study unveiled at a workshop. Organised by the Department of International Development, U.K. and Black and Veatch Consulting Limited, U.K., the workshop on Water Demand Management in Are... Continued...

Monday, November 22, 2004

Positive BSE Result Likely, Test-Maker Says
Adding to speculation that USDA iss fairly certain it is dealing with a valid case of BSE, Brad Crutchfield, vice-president of Bio-Rad, which makes the rapid-screen tests used by USDA told CNN on Friday that a positive finding is far more likely after two inconclusive results. On Thursday USDA a... Continued...

Development-Southern Africa: Overcoming Water Scarcity
A routine visit to a village in the northern South African province of Limpopo brought Stephen McFarlane face-to-face with the reality of a child-headed family. But, the members of this household were not, as one might suspect, AIDS orphans. Their parents were very much alive - but living in a mo... Continued...

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Bush Agrees to Act on U.S. Beef Ban
SANTIAGO, CHILE - U.S. President George W. Bush said his administration is committed to reopening the border to Canadian beef within several months. Bush was less optimistic with Martin's proposal to create a new organization of world leaders, called the L-20, which would include the current G-8... Continued...

Friday, November 19, 2004

New mad cow case likely, experts say
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A final test is likely to confirm a second U.S. case of mad cow disease, experts said on Thursday, though they see a small possibility the animal, which tested "inconclusive" in two preliminary tests, could be given a clean bill of health. The U.S. Agriculture Department s... Continued...

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Possible New Mad Cow Case Found In U.S.
WASHINGTON - A second case of mad cow disease may have turned up in the United States but the suspect meat has not entered the food chain, Agriculture Department officials said Thursday. The officials released few details and refused to say where the possibly diseased animal was found. They sa... Continued...

USDA Uses Series Of Tests To Detect Mad Cow
WASHINGTON, The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday that an animal tested "inconclusive" for mad cow disease in preliminary tests and would conduct more sophisticated analysis for confirmation. The USDA has stepped up its testing of U.S. cattle, sampling the brains of more than 100,000 ... Continued...

Bio-Rad Says Rapid Mad Cow Test Highly Accurate
WASHINGTON, - Bio-Rad Laboratories said on Thursday its rapid screening tests were highly accurate for finding mad cow disease, but a false positive was possible. The U.S. Agriculture Department said earlier on Thursday an animal tested "inconclusive" for mad cow disease in preliminary ... Continued...

Possible New Case Of Mad Cow Disease Found In The United
WASHINGTON (CP) - Attempts to lift the American ban on Canadian cattle could be facing a setback with news Thursday that U.S. officials may have discovered a second case of mad cow disease. It will be up to a week before officials can determine with certainty whether the cow has bovine spongifor... Continued...

Poor Country Gains from Trade Greatly Overstated
The Bush administration announced plans this week to move forward with bilateral and regional trade agreements in President Bush's second term. But the World Bank has cast doubt on the benefits to developing countries from these agreements in its Global Economic Prospects 2005. A new report from... Continued...

USDA reports possible mad cow case
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating an inconclusive test result for mad cow disease, the agency announced Thursday. Shares of McDonald's fell nearly 1 percent on news of the test. "The inconclusive test result does not mean we have found another case of BSE... Continued...

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Leading Campaign Organization Challenges Abuses by Water, Food and Agribusiness, and Oil Industries
BOSTON. Building on 27 years of successful campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous actions of corporations like Nestle, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria, Infact is expanding its organizing and changing its name to Corporate Accountability International. As it launches new initiat... Continued...

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Gaps Between Brazil, U.S. Threaten Trade Talks
BRASILIA -- Brazil's foreign minister said the future of a hemispherewide free-trade zone is in peril, largely because the U.S. is pushing a reluctant Brazil "to overhaul our entire economic framework." Large gaps remain between the U.S. and Brazil, the two main protagonists in the effort t... Continued...

Canada Expects Mad Cow Testing May Find New Cases
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canadian veterinary officials said on Tuesday they will not be surprised if they find a small number of cases of mad cow disease after boosting test rates among old and sick cattle. Canada has tested more than 10,000 cattle for the brain-wasting disease in 2004, al... Continued...

International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance (IRHA)
The International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance (IRHA), whose Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland, was created two years ago at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. IRHA works globally to promote Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) and management as a strategic and sustai... Continued...

Anti-Globalization Groups Plan Protest Marches During APEC Summit
Anti-globalization groups in Chile plan massive demonstrations during the Asia-Pacific Economic forum here Friday through Sunday to protest the spread of global marketing strategies and the presence at the summit of US President George W. Bush. Loosely grouped under the Anti-APEC Committee, the r... Continued...

Pacific Rim Leaders To Call For Urgent Work On Global Trade Talks, Anti-Terror Measures
Pacific Rim leaders are expected to give a strong push to global trade talks and pledge to guard their economies from terror threats when they gather for their annual meeting this weekend, according to a draft of their final declaration. The 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit will... Continued...

UN Finds No Proof Of Nuclear Weapons In Iran
PRAGUE - After nearly two years of investigation, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said yesterday that it has not uncovered proof that Iran has a covert weapons program, although it could not rule out that Tehran was engaging in clandestine nuclear activities. Following on the heels of I... Continued...

China Prepares Its New Revolootion
Some 55 years after the Communist revolution, the Chinese government is pulling out all stops to foment a new kind of upheaval: "Toilet Revolution.'' Despite the ultra-modern veneer that Beijing's glittering skyscrapers and multi-laned highways give it, the majority of the city's public toilets are ... Continued...

Tough Talk Is Welcome
Three cheers for B.C. Forestries Minister Mike de Jong who gave the sharp edge of his tongue to the suggestion from U.S. Senator Max Baucus of Montana that softwood lumber duties currently being held in escrow be paid out to American lumber producers. De Jong said "I don't know what they call it ... Continued...

Pact Seen as Threat to Latin Farmers
Central American farmers may be plowed under by heavily subsidized U.S. farm products if Congress next year approves the Central American Free Trade Agreement, according to a report to be released today. The anti-poverty organization Oxfam International predicted that the region's rice industry w... Continued...

WTO Dispute Settlement
Tenth specialized course on WTO Dispute Settlement takes place in Geneva; Twenty-nine government officials from WTO Member and Observer countries started a five-day immersion into the rules and procedures governing the WTO Dispute Settlement mechanism ©1994-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD During one w... Continued...

Monday, November 15, 2004

Water pump in Western United States primes earthquakes
GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado (AP) -- A federal facility that pumps salty water 14,000 feet into the Earth's crust probably is associated with a magnitude 3.9 earthquake that struck the Utah-Colorado border this month, an official said. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation facility removes salt from the Dol... Continued...

Bush's Trade Plan Stalled
President Bush's goal for a free-trade zone encompassing the entire Western Hemisphere faces growing opposition in the U.S. and abroad. The Free Trade Area of the Americas would lower tariffs and open up borders separating 34 nations and 800 million people, creating the world's largest free-tr... Continued...

New Patent Regime: Concerns Centre Around Rise In Prices
India may be heading towards a high-cost economy with the new product patent regime coming into effect from January next year. The proposed third amendment to the Patent Act, 1970 will cover food, drugs, chemicals, including agro-chemicals and transgenic seeds and products. As the new law w... Continued...

Scotland: Executive pulls plug on fluoride in water
CONTROVERSIAL plans to introduce fluoride into the public water supply in Scotland are set to be abandoned, it emerged today. The Scottish Executive is understood to have axed the proposal - which won support from the medical profession- in favour of better targeted dental services. • Better tar... Continued...

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Clean water for all by 2008
Johannesburg - All South Africans will have access to clean running water by 2008, SABC television news reported on Saturday. The SABC said Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Buyelwa Sonjica set this target as clean water was opened to the 10 millionth South African in 10 years in Soverby outside... Continued...

Friday, November 12, 2004

U.S. Trade Unionist Assassinated In El Salvador
Mr. Gilberto Soto was assassinated Friday evening, November 5, at 6:00 p.m., while visiting his mother in the city of Usulutan, El Salvador. Mr. Soto received a call on his cell phone and had just stepped outside the doorway of his mother's home, searching for better reception, when he w... Continued...

GM bacteria may filter well water arsenic: scientists
Canadian scientists are currently working on using biotechnology to filter arsenic from well water for countries like Bangladesh with the help of genetically modified (GM) bacteria. "Bugs from Australian gold mines may be used to remove arsenic from well water in Bangladesh," said Dr Peter Singer... Continued...

US States Defy Bush With Carbon Trading Plan
Individual US states are putting together a system to cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions, despite the Bush administration's opposition to the Kyoto protocol on global warming. The regional-level initiative, led by the Governor of New York state, George Pataki, aims to be able to announce the ... Continued...

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Trade Dispute Over Boeing
America's biggest exporter is Boeing. It is easy to understand why. Have you ever looked at airplane prices? A big jet plane can cost well over a hundred million dollars. In fact, trade in civilian planes is so important, it is one of fifteen main areas of negotiation for the World Trade Orga... Continued...

EU, Other Nations Submit List Of Targeted US Imports In Dumping Dispute
The European Union and six countries have submitted lists of US exports which will be targeted by millions of dollars in sanctions unless the United States abolishes anti-dumping legislation, the World Trade Organisation said Thursday. The lists from the EU, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico a... Continued...

Bilateral Deals To Be Tackled In APEC Meeting
The forthcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Santiago, Chile will make sure that bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) conform with World Trade Organization (WTO) policies, Trade Sec. Cesar A.V. Purisima yesterday said. In a statement, Mr. Purisima said APEC m... Continued...

Wal-Mart To Open 15 Stores In Smaller Cities In China
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, plans to open as many as 15 new stores in China next year, competing for a foothold with Carrefour SA and Metro Group as the central government lifts curbs on foreign retailers. Wal-Mart, which has 40 outlets in major cities such as Beijing and Shen... Continued...

Cotton Prices May Continue Fluctuating
After recent slumps, China's cotton prices will fluctuate within a reasonable margin in the next few months before the next cotton harvest, according to a senior official from the China Cotton Association (CCA). "There will be no drastic ups or downs in the coming months," Gao Fang, the associati... Continued...

On The Water Front
Meng and Ma are one of Shanghai's most impressive double acts. They don't crack jokes, they don't sing and dance - at least not in office hours. No, they do something far more basic: one pours, the other flushes. Not just glasses, or cisterns, but entire lakes of water. More than 5m cubic gallons a ... Continued...

'U.S. Beef Ban Not To Be Linked To Rice Talks'
Korea tried to link its ban on U.S. beef with negotiations over Seoul's rice import policy, but were spurned by American trade officials, the government said yesterday. "We tried to make (the trade-off) offers to U.S. but it did not work out," said Huh Sang-man, agriculture and forestry minister, on... Continued...

Long Way To Go To Implement Solid Reforms; MEXICO
Time is not on Mexico's side. Consolidated democracies such as the United States, Canada and Western Europe took decades to settle democratic institutions, forge open societies and empower their citizens. Mexico needs to meet these challenges at once. In July 2006, the first presidential election... Continued...

Mexico's Antitrust Chief Seeks Stronger Laws
Eduardo Perez Motta is the new technocrat in charge of standing up to Mexico's most powerful companies. As incoming president of the Federal Competition Commission, Mr. Perez Motta is the country's top trustbuster, charged with curbing monopolies in an economy where one or two dominant companies ... Continued...

Biotech Corn A Concern
Mexico is trying to limit the importation of genetically modified corn from the United States after a NAFTA watchdog group recommended better regulation of the crop, something U.S. officials have said is unnecessary. Mexico imports about 5.6 million tons of American corn a year. Between 30 percent a... Continued...

Sino-Brazilian Ties Enter New Era
Relations between China and Brazil have remarkably improved since the two countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, and both sides hope their ties will be strengthened in a time of challenges and opportunities. The increased exchange in various fields and the rapid growth of bilate... Continued...

Nepal Offered To Lead Least Developed Countries In WTO Meeting
Nepal has been offered to lead the least developed countries (LDCs) group during the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong next year. "The Nepali government is seriously considering the offer and if the government is able to head the group, such a leadershi... Continued...

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Major Airlines Pledge to Disinfect Onboard Water
Twelve major U.S. passenger airlines have told federal environmental officials that they are ready to implement new water testing and disinfection protocols aboard their aircraft. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday that it will issue new regulations governing aircraft drinki... Continued...

Monday, November 8, 2004

EU Asks WTO To Get US, Canada To Lift Beef Sanctions
The European Commission said it has asked the WTO to order the US and Canada to lift sanctions against EU beef imports in a dispute involving growth-promoting hormones. The commission said the EU believed these sanctions are illegal as it has removed the measures found to be WTO-inconsistent.... Continued...

China Restructures Tobacco Industry In Face Of Foreign Competition
Chinese tobacco companies want to speed up industry restructuring in a bid to create big, widely recognised cigarette brands and improve competitiveness against international rivals, state press said Monday. Following a meeting in southwest China last month, 26 Chinese cigarette makers tabled an... Continued...

Global Economic Forum To Be Held In Taipei
A global economic conference is to be held in Taipei. The International Economic Cooperation And Development Symposium will be held at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CHIER) on Nov. 9. * Keith Rockwell, World Trade Organization (WTO) spokesman, and Jean-Marie Metzger, director o... Continued...

BRAZIL: No Hurry In FTAA Negotiations
Development: The Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Amorim, said on 5 November during the Rio Group conference that Brazil 'was in no hurry' as regards the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Significance: According to Amorim, the Brazilian government prefers 'to push for multilateral agreemen... Continued...

Scrapping Over Paper Profits
The paper chase starts in the blackness of early morning, a cat-and-mouse game played on Tokyo's almost empty back streets in the hours before businessmen shake off their hangovers and commuters emerge to flood the city. Down impossibly narrow lanes, ex-cop Michio Manabe squeezes his patrol car t... Continued...

Increasing Imports Of Food Creating Trade Problems For U.S Economy
Agriculture, one of the few big sectors of the economy that could be counted on to produce trade surpluses, has recently generated monthly deficits --- a development that could worsen the nation's already significant trade imbalance. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. impo... Continued...

Sunday, November 7, 2004

Sugar Producers Lobby Against CAFTA
Opposition escalates against a U.S. sugar policy which growers/manufacturers believe dupes the industry here in favor of foreign imported sugar. The Dominican Republican-Central American Free Trade Agreement would allow for reduced trade tariffs between the United States and six Central American ... Continued...

Spend $150 Billion Per Year To Cure World Poverty
Jeffrey Sachs is standing on a dusty brown hillside in Nazareth. Not the Nazareth of biblical renown, but the Nazareth of ancient Abyssinia, now Ethiopia, one of the poorest and most godforsaken places in the world. Surrounded by skinny, dirt-caked children, Sachs looks awkward in a navy blazer, ... Continued...

Thursday, November 4, 2004

FRANCE: Danone looks to rewrite JV deals; Coke likely to revamp bottled water strategy
Danone plans to renegotiate two of its joint water ventures, according to press reports. Agence France Presse (AFP) said today (2 November) that the French company is looking to renegotiate its JV with Coca-Cola in the US and Suntory in Japan by June next year. The move follows falls in sales of bot... Continued...

What Lurks in the Pristine-Looking Bottled Mineral Water
IF YOU are not guzzling down brand name water, then you are not yet part of the latest in-crowd. But not too fast to reach for that bottle of water ­ 'all that glitters is not gold'. Dutch researcher, Dr. Rocus R. Klont from the University Medical Centre Nijmegan and colleagues, reporting to a re... Continued...

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

Tapping into a success story
Persuading Britain that bottled water is better than the stuff coming out of the tap has been one of the biggest marketing successes of the past two decades. Last year, Britain drank more than two billion litres - the equivalent of nearly 35 litres per person. According to the British Soft Drinks... Continued...

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

"Bottled water import" a threat to environment
Shops which import food products from around the world, such as water from Fiji, have come in for criticism from environmentalists. The green groups say so-called "food miles", where food travels thousands of miles to the UK to offer consumers a varied choice, is "environmental madness". One o... Continued...

Monday, November 1, 2004

Watchdog urges water mergers
BRITAIN'S water companies should be allowed to merge in a bid to keep the lid on rising household bills, the industry's consumer watchdog said today. The intervention of WaterVoice comes amid a growing belief that the water industry is on the brink of a major round of consolidation among the coun... Continued...

Friday, October 29, 2004

'Free Trade' Policies Cost Thousands Of Minnesota Jobs, Threaten Beet Industry
ST. PAUL — So-called “free trade” policies likely have cost Minnesota thousands of manufacturing jobs more than previously reported and threaten to wipe out thousands of more jobs connected with the region’s sugarbeet industry. That was the message Thursday at two concurrent news conferences at ... Continued...

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Water Markets: World's First Multi-Boillion Dollar Green Market Place Opens
The world's first multi-billion dollar green marketplace was launched yesterday, aiming to connect buyers and sellers of a contentious - but likely lucrative - commodity, the environment. The internet-based Ecosystem Marketplace is an online public forum, aiming to create a more efficient and tra... Continued...