Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
SEAL SALAMI
BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
THE SUPPLY of Canadian seal meat and salami may rise if the country’s federal government adopts proposals discussed at a recent Canada Seal Forum meeting. Government officials, animal rights activists and hunters met in Newfoundland, to discuss changing existing regulation that prohibits hunting blue-back seals until the age of two and baby seals until they moult their fluffy coats at two-and-a-half weeks.…
MOSLEM CHICKEN BAN
BY MARK ROWE
A MOSLEM consumer group wants Malaysia to ban chicken imports from China, Thailand and the Philippines because of health and religious concerns. The Malaysian Muslim Consumer Association claims that raw chicken from China contained traces of a toxic antibiotic banned by Malaysia’s health ministry and that Chinese slaughtering methods were questionable from a religious point of view.…
RINDERPEST EXTINCTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is predicting the extinction of the virulent cattle disease rinderpest by a UN deadline of 2010. It is trying to eradicate the last traces of the virus in northeast Kenya and southern Somalia.…
AFGHANISTAN LIVESTOCK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation has launched a livestock census in Afghanistan, a key part of its plan to rehabilitate the country’s meat production sector. FAO officials will visit more than 30,000 villages and farming communities over the coming months to collate detailed information on animal numbers and livestock production practices.…
EXTENSIFICATION PREMIUM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) financial watchdog the Court of Auditors has criticised the EU’s 10-year-old extensification premium, a subsidy designed to encourage beef and veal producers to abandon potentially polluting intensive farming practices. The Court has claimed that the payments “did little to encourage additional extensive farming.”…
INDIA BREEDING CENTRE
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE INDIAN government will spend IND Rupees 340 million on developing a National Cattle Breeding and Development Agency for Cross Breeding in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The agency is to provide facilities including artificial insemination, frozen semen straws and basic facilities for breeders.…
SANITARY - WTO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INDIA and African countries have called for food health import controls allowed by WTO rules to be weakened regarding developing country exporters, claiming they are so tough and bureaucratic, they prevent them exporting healthy food.…
VODKA RUSSIA
BY MARK ROWE
THE RUSSIAN government has re-launched production of its two most famous vodka brands, Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya, after they had been suspended for several months. The resumption of sales follows a long battle caused by the break up of the Soviet Union.…
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union and its allies at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) negotiations over the creation of a global register for protected geographical indications in the wine and spirit trade have made a significant concession, which may be the basis for a future deal.…
ANTI-BIOTIC WINE STUDY
BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN scientists are claiming they have proof that wine is an anti-biotic, strong enough to kill virulent bugs such as E.coli and salmonella. Researcher Mark Daeschel from Oregon State University has added that white wine may be more beneficial to health than red wine.…