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News archives

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Mexico: NAFTA Dependence Criticized
Mexico, Aug 27 (Prensa Latina) Mexico’s National Farmers Confederation criticized on Wednesday the country's food dependence imposed by the implementation of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement.) The agricultural chapter of NAFTA must be immediately revised to benefit local producers, pres... Continued...

Shell slammed over "puzzling" tar sands claims
It was in a conference call with journalists a few weeks ago that Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer offered perhaps the most bizarre argument yet in favour of the continued development of North America's controversial tar sands. "If we do not produce oil sands or if we do not do enhanced... Continued...

Buffett says has no "buy order" on oil sands
CALGARY, Alberta, - Warren Buffett toured Canada's oil sands with his friend Bill Gates this week to understand how the resources are developed, but the billionaire investor said on Friday he had no plan to buy into the sector. In an interview on CNBC television, Buffett said he and the Microsoft... Continued...

Oily tales flow at Vancouver International Fringe Festival
Politics is sexy. It can also be deeply moving. Crude Love and Doppelganger, two of the most political shows at this year’s Vancouver International Fringe Festival—which runs at various venues on and around Granville Island from next Thursday (September 4) to September 14—promise to be among the hot... Continued...

World Bank Counts More Poor People
“Far more people around the world live in severe poverty than previously thought, with the global underclass now numbering an estimated 1.4 billion, up from around 1 billion, according to a landmark World Bank report released yesterday. The report does not suggest that the world has suddenly... Continued...

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Australia, Brazil back urgent return to WTO talks
CANBERRA, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Brazil and Australia have backed an urgent resumption of stalled world trade talks before the U.S. presidential election and said on Wednesday they hoped a breakthrough could still be reached. The so-called Doha round of negotiations to slash trade barriers and farm s... Continued...

Brazil seeks trade sanctions against U.S. over cotton subsidies
GENEVA -- Brazil has asked the World Trade Organization for the right to impose as much as $4 billion in annual sanctions against American goods and services to penalize the United States for handing out illegal cotton subsidies, two officials familiar with the matter said Tuesday. The request wa... Continued...

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

US questions China at WTO over pork, farm taxes
The United States has challenged China to justify the legality of its tax, subsidy and export rules for farm products such as pork and wheat in what could signify new tensions between the two trading giants. Most commercial disputes between Washington and Beijing have focused on manufacturing and... Continued...

Monday, August 25, 2008

The politics of sand
What constitutes sustainability? IT'S official: extracting oil from Canada's vast deposits of bitumenous sand is unsustainable. So, at any rate, Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) implicitly concluded when it ruled that Royal Dutch Shell Enhanced Coverage LinkingRoyal Dutch Shell ... Continued...

U.S. to Assign Safety Inspectors to Chinese Cities in October
The U.S. will station inspectors in three Chinese cities to scrutinize exports to the world's largest economy, responding to concerns over the safety of China-produced food, toys and pharmaceutical ingredients. Up to 15 inspectors will be assigned to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou from October, ... Continued...

Russia backing off on some WTO commitments
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin backed proposals Monday allowing Moscow to back off on some commitments - particularly in agriculture - it has made during World Trade Organization accession talks, state-run media reported. Russia, the only major country still outside the WTO, still faces major barr... Continued...

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Will Canada's oil boom be an environmental bust?
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) — The largest dump truck in the world is parked under a massive mechanical shovel waiting to transport 400 tons of oily sand at an open pit mine in the northern reaches of Alberta. Each Caterpillar 797B heavy hauler — three-stories high, with tires twice as tall as the... Continued...

Friday, August 22, 2008

Fertile Opportunities for U.S. Agribusiness in China
With a ballooning agricultural trade deficit, China may find it ever harder to juggle two often contradictory national aims: poverty alleviation through urbanization and achieving food self-sufficiency. The latest figures from Beijing show that China became a net food importer this year, shedding... Continued...

WTO, US trade chiefs to try to unstick Doha Round
WASHINGTON (AFP) — World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy and top US trade negotiator Susan Schwab were to meet in Washington in an effort to restart the Doha Round of negotiations, a US official said. Lamy's visit to the US capital comes on the heels of his trip to India last week to discuss... Continued...

National Democratic Party Picks Sides on Trade Debate
Washington D.C. – After more than a decade of division within the National Democratic Party on the issue of free trade, the organization codified a clear position for the first time in their platform going to the Denver Convention next week. “This language is nothing less than groundbreaking,” said... Continued...

Thursday, August 21, 2008

China to help oil-rich Angola produce rice
LUANDA, Aug 21 (Reuters) - China is mulling ways to help oil-rich Angola produce rice and kick-start its once prosperous agricultural sector, state-owned Angop news agency on Thursday cited China's ambassador to Angola as saying. Before independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola was a top exporte... Continued...

Impasse: Are We Nearing the End of the Corporate Globalization Era?
When the history of the seismic shifts occurring today in the global economy is written, the failure in July 2008 of corporate interests and some governments to expand the World Trade Organization (WTO) through the Doha Round will stand as a watershed moment. It was in this lakeside town wher... Continued...

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Grassley Defends WTO Compliance of Ethanol Tariff
Senator Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., has asked U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab to investigate whether the U.S. ethanol import tariff violates the rules of the World Trade Organization. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is sending a letter to Schwab emphasizing the compliance of the tariff with WT... Continued...

Monday, August 18, 2008

How investors inflate commodities' bubble
Commodities - the stuff that feeds us, runs our cars, heats our homes and provides the basic materials of everyday life - recently enjoyed one of the great bull runs of modern investment history, nearly doubling in price in the space of a year. In the past month, though, prices of a wide range of... Continued...

World Bank chief urges resumption of WTO talks
The head of the World Bank added his voice on Monday to those calling for a revival of last month's abortive world trade talks. World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that the July meeting, which foundered on a proposal for a safeguard to help farmers in poor countries withstand a flood of imp... Continued...

Saturday, August 16, 2008

NAFTA Affects Mexico's Food Sovereignty
Mexico, Aug 16 (Prensa Latina) The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has resulted in Mexico losing its food sovereignty and increased poverty, experts warned in this capital. Researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Institute for Forestry, Ag... Continued...

Friday, August 15, 2008

Food aid left off the table
When sudden food price increases started to make headlines last summer, an estimated 852 million people were already living with crippling hunger, which the United Nations defines as continuously getting too little food to maintain a healthy and minimally active life. The UN's Food and Agriculture O... Continued...

Thursday, August 14, 2008

British ruling a hit to oilsands
The provincial government and petroleum sector -- already facing criticism over "dirty oil" from the oilsands -- experienced another setback Wednesday when a British advertising regulator ruled it's "misleading" for Shell to call Alberta's oilsands a sustainable energy source. The ruling from the... Continued...

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

U.S. Family Farmers Applaud Demise of Doha Negotiations
The National Family Farm Coalition welcomed with elation the recent failure of the Doha Round negotiations at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. NFFC, an organization representing family farmers in the United States and a member of Via Campesina, an international coalition of family farmers, pe... Continued...

Friday, August 8, 2008

WTO talks: Should countries trade?
In the light of the recent failure of Doha round of negotiations at the WTO, this question is not as silly as it may sound. In Geneva the US (which normally precipitates a breakdown of talks) felt that developed countries were not interested in giving additional market access while the developing co... Continued...

Thursday, August 7, 2008

South Koreans Fill Streets of Seoul to Continue Protest Against US Beef Imports
Guest: Michael Hansen, senior scientist for Consumers Union. He speaks to us from Seoul, where he is testifying before the South Korean National Assembly at a special committee hearing on BSE. AMY GOODMAN: We turn now, finally, to another story about Korea. For the past two months, protesters ... Continued...

FarmFest: Farm bill does not end federal ag work
REDWOOD FALLS, Minn. — Despite newly enacted federal farm policy that is supposed to last for five years, more agriculture-related work remains to be done in Washington. Most important is to make sure the Bush administration and its successor implements what Congress passed, top farm experts told... Continued...

A look at McCain, Obama farm policies
Major farm policies advanced by presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama: ___ McCAIN _Opposed a $300 billion farm bill approved by Congress this year over President Bush's veto. Opposes subsidies to divert corn into ethanol production. _Supports trade expansion through negotiatio... Continued...

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

EPA Expands Study of Pharmaceuticals in Waterways
WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2008 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to conduct a detailed study of the disposal methods used by hospitals, long-term care facilities, hospices and veterinary hospitals that wish to discard unused pharmaceuticals. The EPA is seeking more inf... Continued...

Don’t cry for Doha
Will they or won’t they? Will the world’s trade ministers eventually sign a new multilateral trade agreement that reduces agricultural subsidies and industrial tariffs, or will they walk away empty-handed? The saga has been ongoing since November 2001, when the current round of negotiations was laun... Continued...

What caused WTO collapse? It was cotton subsidies, stupid!
In an editorial entitled 'The Next Step for World Trade' (Aug 2, 2008), the New York Times wrote: "The battle lines for the new world order were exposed at the World Trade Organization this week. The breakdown of the Doha round of trade negotiations over a clash between the United States and Chi... Continued...

Overzealous Lamy also to blame for WTO talks collapse
GENEVA: The usual blame game continues over the collapse of the WTO mini-ministerial. The US is blaming India and China, particularly India, for adopting a rigid stance on special safeguard mechanisms (SSM) and the developing countries accusing the US for refusing to budge from its stance on agricul... Continued...

Dow showing there may be great plastic in future
Like just about everyone who depends on oil to run their cars or heat their water, the nation's largest chemical maker, Dow Chemical Co., has been hit hard by the soaring cost of it. Now, with help from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Dow is embarking on a project to figure o... Continued...

Obama 's unplugged energy policy
Given the continuing U. S. housing and financial crises, the presidential race is becoming more and more about the economy. However, neither housing nor finance is amenable to the kind of catchy, populist policy fixes required by campaign grandstanding. Energy, by contrast, is, and provides full sco... Continued...

Trouble in tar-sand land; Companies find snags in boosting investment
CALGARY -- Tar-sands spending has doubled in three years but energy companies are having a harder time putting more money into the ground to take advantage of record commodity prices. Labour shortages, regulatory delays, uncertainty over climate change and soaring costs for materials such as stee... Continued...

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Australia to Hold Tender to Purchase Water for Murray-Darling
Sydney -- Australia's government will next month hold a new tender to buy back water from farmers in Queensland state to boost flows in the Murray-Darling Basin, home to almost half the nation's farms. The tender will be the first part of a A$350 million ($324 million) commitment to purchase wate... Continued...

Oil: Campaigners seek an end to production of CO2-intensive 'unconventional fuels'
Shell, BP and other oil companies at the centre of the tar sands revolution in Canada are facing a backlash from the Co-operative and other members of the ethical investment community determined to bring a halt to these operations for environmental reasons. A joint report from Co-operative Invest... Continued...

International Briefing: OIL FROM TAR SANDS TO FLOW TO U.S.
Two major energy companies will spend $7 billion to nearly double the amount of crude flowing through a pipeline from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast, highlighting intense demand for crude that was once too expensive to pull from the ground and process. Alberta, Canada-based TransCanada... Continued...

Earth Search to Acquire General Synfuels International
; LENGTH: 724 words DATELINE: LAKESIDE, Mont. July 21 LAKESIDE, Mont., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Earth Search Sciences, Inc. ,(OTC:ESSE)(BULLETIN BOARD: ESSE) today announced the acquisition of General Synfuels International, Inc. (GSI) and its patented technology to recover hyd... Continued...

Monday, August 4, 2008

GUSTAVO ESTEVA, THE MAN WHO INVENTED "NO CORN, NO COUNTRY"
Editor's Note: Zapatista prophet and "de-professionalized intellectual", Gustavo Esteva, visited Toronto recently and Wayne Roberts had the chance to get to know him. Esteva is one of the key thinkers behind Zapatista movement based in southern Mexico and he has coordinated a national campaign i... Continued...

Neighbor to the south invites us to see issues from his view
Sonoran Gov. Eduardo Bours knows a bit about NAFTA. In 1994, Bours helped mold the North American Free-Trade Agreement as a negotiator and representative of the private sector. Bours, 51, still believes in the pact. And, as a member of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, still believes in a world ... Continued...

THE REAL QUESTION: SHOULD OIL BE CHEAP?
Amite Foundry & Machine is one of those gritty manufacturers at the heart of American industrial might. The Louisiana company's fiery 2,800 degree furnaces melt down hunks of recycled scrap steel and recast them into massive parts for trucks, oil rigs, and other heavy equipment. Amite even turned 30... Continued...

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Senate Passes Bill That Would Protect Great Lakes: Environmental Issues, Not Just Conservation Efforts, Should Also Be Addressed, Activists Contend
Environmental Issues, Not Just Conservation Efforts, Should Also Be Addressed, Activists Contend CHICAGO -- Efforts to protect the Great Lakes from those who may covet their vast quantities of water for an increasingly thirsty world took a major step forward Friday as the Senate passed legislatio... Continued...

Saturday, August 2, 2008

The Next Step for World Trade
The battle lines of the new world order were exposed at the World Trade Organization this week. The breakdown of the Doha round of trade negotiations over a clash between the United States and China and India about farm protections underscored how these new economic giants are changing the balance o... Continued...

Friday, August 1, 2008

TRADE: New World Order in Doha’s Wake
The standoff between China and India, the world’s two fastest growing economies, and the United States not only buried the last attempt to save the Doha Round, but also demonstrated changes in the balance of power since the WTO was created in 1995, say observers. The World Trade Organisation (WTO... Continued...

Aral sea rescue plan a 'partial success'
One of the 20th century's great ecological disasters has been partly reversed, according to a report that claims the waters are rising once more in part of the Aral sea. The team behind an Aral sea restoration plan claims that the water level in the northern part of the sea in central Asia has ri... Continued...

Scientists find cheap way to turn water into fuel
Scientists have devised a cheap and simple method of turning water into rocket fuel using solar power in a development that could generate a new source of green energy for the home and workplace. The researchers used electricity from solar panels to split water into oxygen and hydrogen – the cons... Continued...

You Think Oil's Going Down? Think Again
If you aren't counting your nickels and dimes (and $20s and $50s) at the pump just yet, or cutting back on air travel, or finding ways to cut your heating bills, you soon will be. I was talking this week with Geoffrey Heal, a professor at the Columbia Business School, who believes that "the sky's... Continued...

Thursday, July 31, 2008

The case for exploiting tar sands
Shell warned environmentalists and ethical investors yesterday that failure to exploit tar sands and other unconventional oil products would worsen climate change because it would lead to the world burning even more carbon-heavy coal.Jeroen van der Veer, Shell's chief executive, said the world neede... Continued...

China’s Shift on Food Was Key to Trade Impass
GENEVA — Some blamed soybeans. Others blamed cotton. And many pointed a finger at America’s election-year politics. But the collapse of negotiations to open world markets gave way Wednesday to resignation that a shift in the global economic hierarchy had darkened the prospect any time soon of a n... Continued...

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Global Resource Corp. Develops Additional Microwave Technology
Global Resource Corp. (OTC: GBRC), a developer of a patent-pending microwave technology and machinery for extracting oil and gas, announced today that it has filed an application for a new patent on its Electro-Graphic Resonance Chamber (E-GRC). The E-GRC ("Magic Box") uses a microwave signal run in... Continued...

Brazil is poised to begin WTO protest over ethanol tariffs
GENEVA: Brazil is likely to ask the World Trade Organization to open a blockbuster case into U.S. ethanol tariffs, a senior official said Wednesday, outlining the first possible dispute to arise as a result of this week's global trade talks collapse. Roberto Azevedo, Brazil's WTO ambassador, said t... Continued...

EPA RAISES CONCERNS TO BLM OVER OIL SHALE, TAR SANDS DEVELOPMENTS
EPA is raising concerns about the environmental impact of tar sands and oil shale development, a move that is likely to add controversy to the already contentious congressional debate about whether to encourage development of the alternative fuels as a way to boost fuel supplies. Region VIII in r... Continued...

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Greenpeace activists obstruct Syncrude tar sands operation
Braving toxic fumes and the same toxic tailings waste that earlier this year killed 500 ducks, Greenpeace activists entered Syncrude's Aurora North tar sands operation early this morning and blocked a pipe into the two-kilometre wide tailings pond. Shortly after 11:00 a.m today, 11 Greenpeace act... Continued...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

TransCanada, ConocoPhillips To Double Capacity Of Crude Line To 1.1M Barrels Per Day
TransCanada Corp. and ConocoPhillips will spend $7 billion to nearly double to amount of crude flowing through the Keystone Pipeline from Canada s tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast. TransCanada and ConocoPhillips said that they will add 500,000 barrels of daily capacity to the pipeline, whic... Continued...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Buys 50% Net Working Interest in 25 Sections of Alberta Tar Sands Leases
DOLLY VARDEN RESOURCES INC ("DLV-V") - Buys 50% Net Working Interest in 25 Sections of Alberta Tar - Sands Leases Dolly Varden Resources Inc. ("Dolly Varden"), has signed an interim agreement to purchase an undivided 50% net working interest in 25 contiguous sections of Alberta oil and gas leases ... Continued...

Taking aim at the tar sands
The Wilderness Committee's new educational report, 'Canada's Tar Sands - What The Government Doesn't Want You To Know,' has been well-received by Canadians from coast to coast. Thousands of additional copies have been ordered for distribution by local communities. The report, co-published with Fo... Continued...

Thursday, July 10, 2008

SHELL BACKS OUT OF OIL SANDS PROJECT
An oil giant that planned to refine the same Canadian tar sands as BP Whiting has canceled plans for an expansion in Ontario. Shell Canada is scrapping a proposed refinery project in Sarnia, which would have turned tar-like crude from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, into refinery-ready light oil, t... Continued...

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

McCain In Ottawa: Energy Security or Dirty Oil?
In a speech today in Canada's capital, US presidential candidate Senator John McCain is set to praise secure trade relations between the US and Canada, noting Canada's abundant and secure energy supply. But the full story includes very real threats from Canada's oil supply, most of which comes f... Continued...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Activists Seek Strict New Permit Requirements For Midwest Energy
Environmental groups are seeking to expand strict permit requirements -- requiring regulators to address enforcement violations in industrial facilities' clean air operating permits -- to at least two Midwestern energy facilities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit recently heard oral ... Continued...

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Canada's tar sands lure India
INDIA could invest up to $US10 billion ($10.4 billion) in Canada's tar sands oil industry, the head of the country's state oil company says. Canada has vast reserves of tar sands -- a dense mixture of sand, water and petroleum used to extract bitumen -- but the development of the industry is cont... Continued...

It's watershed time for rivers
Not long ago, the passing-bell tolled for the Yangtze River dolphin. In August last year, scientists announced that the baiji , or Goddess of the Yangtze, a species venerated for thousands of years in China until Mao's Great Leap Forward turned it into bushmeat, was probably extinct as a result of o... Continued...

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

irst Nation sues Alberta gov't over tar sands pollution
The Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation (CPDFN) has filed legal action against the Alberta government alleging a breach of its constitutional duty to consult with the First Nation on MEC Energy Corporation's planned Christina Lake Regional Project, Phase 3. This tar sands project is planned to be... Continued...