Search Results for: Canada

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has exempted from its standard free trade rules for a further six years countries involved in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme combating ‘blood diamond’ sales.

Its current waiver was to expire December 31 and protects trade restrictions undertaken by participating countries preventing rough diamonds being exported to non-signatory states.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it will spend Euro 28.3 million on research to fight bird flu, which remains a threat to European Union (EU) environmental health. The studies will examine the flu’s microbiological mode of attack, human and livestock vaccine development, better diagnosis and early warning systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CANADA, in alliance with Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, has successfully scuppered plans to place chrysotile asbestos on the ‘watch list’ of the United Nations’ Rotterdam Convention, a move that would have allowed importing countries to insist on prior consent before admitting any cargoes of this mineral.…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Ottawa

THE CANADIAN Museum of Nature has reopened its key west wing having reached the halfway mark of an extensive and costly renovation project, scheduled to finish in 2010. The now completed wing underwent comprehensive renovations, including the building of new fossil and mammal galleries and a temporary exhibition space.…

BY MARK ROWE

OFFICIALS in the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan have called for urgent action to tackle the country’s uranium dumps, a legacy of the country’s role in the nuclear industry of the former Soviet Union. Their call has highlighted increasing concerns about how depleted uranium is stored, at a time when the United Kingdom and other governments look set to press ahead with a new generation of nuclear power stations.…

BY DINAH GARDNER, in Beijing

CHINA is talking tough over the launch of a World Trade Organisation (WTO) case over its levying of tariffs on imported auto parts, and analysts expect Beijing to follow this up at the WTO before even considering compromise.…

BY KEITH NOYAHR, in Colombo

THE RESUMPTION of war in Sri Lanka is bad news. Period. But, ironically, there have been some benefits. One of these is a concentrating of the mind amongst law enforcement officials within Sri Lanka and their counterparts abroad into tracking down and stopping both terrorist financing and money laundering.…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Ottawa

THE BRITISH Columbia Court of Appeal has ruled that the Canadian province can pursue legal action to recover health-care costs linked to smoking related diseases from 15 foreign tobacco companies. The firms, covering most the world’s biggest cigarette producers, argued that the province had no legal standing, because there was no provincial legislation on the issue.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

IN 2005, Canadians bought more wine than spirits for the first time according to a new Statistics Canada report.

National wines sales reached CDN$4.2-billion compared with CDN$4-billion sold in spirits in 2004/2005.

Beer sales are top: CDN$8.4-billion in sales last year.…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Balderson, Ontario

STRONG family links and a dislike of European Union bureaucracy was what brought David James, 62, to Canada to start over again. In 1998, the James family, including wife Ann, 61, daughter Debra, 39, and son-in law Rob, 39, packed up their belongings and moved to a small farming community called Balderson, roughly 50 miles from Canada’s capital, Ottawa.…