Stories for March 2012

Monday, March 5th 2012 - 19:54 UTC
Russia bans European cattle and hog imports because of Schmallenberg virus

Russia will ban shipments of Europe's cattle and hogs from March 20 due to an outbreak of the Schmallenberg virus, which causes birth deformities, said the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, the country's food-safety watchdog.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 19:40 UTC
Historic year for US beef exports in volume and value and first surplus since 2003

Last year was historic for United States beef exports in both volume and value terms, according to a report from the South Dakota University and released by Drovers Cattle Network.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 19:32 UTC
Spanish unemployment keeps rising; dispute with the EC over the deficit target

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Spain rose by 112.269 in January, taking the overall figure to 4.7 million. Spain’s unemployment rate stands at 22.9%, the highest in the 17-nation Euro-zone.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 19:22 UTC
Dalby man has his own island in the Falklands, a photographers’ paradise

There aren’t too many people in the world who can say they own an island, but John Hellowell is one of them. Necker Island it isn’t, but Dalby man John Hellowell is justifiably proud of his piece of paradise – a small nature reserve in the Falkland Islands, known as The Kidneys.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 19:09 UTC
Taiwan reluctantly accepts US beef imports with “safe level” of ractopamine

The Taiwanese Executive was leaning toward conditionally lifting a ban on the import of US beef that has been grown with a leanness-enhancing drug banned in Taiwan, the government said Monday.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 19:03 UTC
HMS Protector returns to spot in Antarctica where Shackleton saved his men

Sailors from HMS Protector have returned to the exact spot where polar explorer Ernest Shackleton saved his men nearly 100 years ago. A team form the ice survey ship carried out scientific research at Point Wild on Elephant Island - a remote and forbidding shore where Shackleton expedition party spent months awaiting rescue in 1916.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 06:10 UTC
Mercosur countries to agree on a common protocol for vessels from the Falklands

Mercosur country members are scheduled to hold a meeting in Rio do Janeiro to agree on a common protocol for all vessels originating in the Falkland Islands and calling at regional ports, announced Uruguay’s Defence minister Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 06:04 UTC
Change in Argentine policy is “an attempt to collect support and look less mean”

The apparent change in Argentine policy towards the Falkland Islands by offering three direct flights to the Islands from Buenos Aires instead of cutting the air link with Chile, as had been anticipated, was described by Chilean diplomatic sources as “an attempt to collect international support and look less mean”.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 06:00 UTC
Falklands’ case triggers controversy in St Vincent and Grenadines

The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves said that he does not regard himself as a “water carrier” or the “president of a fitness club”, as he defended his decision not to meet with two legislators from a “colonial country assembly” in reference to the Falkland Islands.
Monday, March 5th 2012 - 05:56 UTC
Inter American bank does not trust Argentine official stats, uses private estimates

Argentina must solve the controversy over the measurement of inflation which has significant economic and political costs, said Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla the Inter American Development Bank, IADB, director for Argentina and Haiti.