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| International Focus |
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CHINA
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CARIBBEAN
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BAHAMAS
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BARBADOS
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TRINIDAD
& TOBAGO
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CUBA
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DOMINICA
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Europe
EU weighs
beef and ethanol trade offer: The European Commission told EU countries it still hasn't decided
whether to present a controversial offer for beef and ethanol imports to
Mercosur during this week's trade talks. The commission's chief negotiator,
Sandra Gallina, defended the offer -- which translates into an annual quota of
70,000 tons of beef and 600,000 tons of ethanol for the South American trade
bloc. But France, Poland and Ireland are strongly opposing the deal [POLITICO's
Morning Agriculture, October 2, 2017]
EU and
Canada beef fight is over: The European Union and Canada settled a 21-year dispute over hormones in
beef, POLITICO Europe reports . Canada had started a WTO dispute settlement
in 1996 over the EU's ban on hormone beef, arguing that Europe's food safety
standards forbidding hormones did not have sufficient scientific basis.
Although Brussels lost the fight, it continued to block hormone-treated beef
imports. That enabled Canada to impose retaliatory tariffs. The EU is still
engaged in a similar dispute with the U.S., which could lead the Trump
administration to impose retaliatory tariffs on European products like cheese
and scooters. [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, October 4, 2017]
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GERMANY
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EU GLYPHOSATE RENEWAL MAY WAIT ON BERLIN: The German
government will be a key voice in deciding whether the European Union will keep
glyphosate on the market - and for how long. But because the country just
wrapped up an election, it is not clear when officials will be in place to make
a decision.
The EU has until Dec. 15 to make a decision on the fate of
glyphosate, the world's most commonly used pesticide. EU member nations are
supposed to deal with the matter in early November, but that's less than two
months after the German elections, which took place in September. With a
governing coalition yet to be set in the country, it's unclear if Germany, EU's
most powerful voice, will be able to make a policy decision on the matter by
then.
"I can't see that the coalition will be will be built in
the next few weeks," Joachim Rukwied, president of the EU farmer's group,
Copa, told MA Tuesday. "Because of this, we do not know the position of
the government."
Farmers across Europe use the herbicide to clear fields for planting,
among other things, and want it to stay on the market. Environmental and health
groups there have been effective at getting national policy makers to question
the safety of the chemical, despite findings by some EU and national agencies
that it's safe. France has already declared that it won't vote in favor of
reauthorization, and now many countries are watching to see what Germany will
do. [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, October 4,
2017]
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MALTA
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FBI investigators are on their way to Malta to help that country investigate the Monday car bombing murder of a journalist who regularly wrote about corruption
involving politicians and crime bosses. Daphne Caruana Galizia tackled the illegal sale of passports
in exchange for kickbacks, offshore companies, money laundering, and links
between online gambling and the Mafia. But she was best known for her reporting
on the Panama Papers, 11.5
million files leaked from an offshore law firm last year that revealed how the
rich and powerful around the world use offshore tax havens to hide millions.
The Malta prime minister requested help from the US in investigating the murder
because of stories Caruana Galizia had written recently accusing his
administration of corruption. [Fast Forward, October 17, 2017]
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RUSSIA
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SPAIN
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TURKEY
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| North America |
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CANADA
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PUERTO RICO
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READ
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NOTE: The news sources here vary. Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here. This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased. Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value. Thank you
NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as a "community service" announcement. These again are shared for their varying perspectives.
Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post. Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse. They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended
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