The federal government has passed a law preventing Australian companies from relying on data from animal testing for ingredients to be used solely in cosmetics. More than 500,000 animals – mainly rabbits,
UNITED Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will issue an urgent plea to world leaders at a food summit in Rome today to suspend immediately trade restrictions, agricultural taxes and other price controls that have helped fuel the highest food prices in 30 years.
China's steelmakers are likely to reach a deal with Australian iron ore miners this month in price talks long deadlocked over the miners' demand for a freight premium, a senior Chinese steel official says. Zhang Xiaogang, chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association, also indicated a softer stance toward the miners' demand for the freight-linked sweetener, as the world's largest steel industry faces a June 30 deadline when the Australians will become free to sell more ore into the pricier spot market.
A strong earthquake with a 6.4 magnitude struck southwest of Australia's Macquarie Island early today, the US Geological Survey said. The epicentre of the quake, which hit at 12:31am (AEDT), was 745 kilometres southwest of the remote Australian territory, which lies about 1,450 kilometres southeast of the island state of Tasmania. The US agency reported that the quake hit at a depth of 10 kilometres. There were no immediate reports of damage and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had not issued a tsunami warning.
APPEALS have been made to leave alone the members of one of Brazil's last uncontacted Indian tribes, spotted deep in the Amazon jungle near the Peruvian border. The Indians were sighted and photographed from an aircraft during flights over the rainforest in remote Acre state, said Brazil's National Indian Foundation, known as Funai. Funai said it photographed "strong and healthy" warriors, six huts and a large planted area. The photographs show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows. Funai said it was not known to which tribe they belonged.
Australia's childhood obesity epidemic has been exaggerated and is only increasing in lower-income families. New research has called into question whether the millions of dollars being allocated for prevention programs should be better targeted, a News Ltd newspaper reports. The research questions whether money should be targeted at the highest-risk groups, rather than focused on the general population. The findings are based on measurements taken from thousands of Australian children in 2000 and 2006 in two nationally representative samples.
The death toll from torrential rain in China climbed to 57, state media reported today, as the bad weather continued to cause havoc in five provinces. The south-western province of Guizhou was hardest hit, with 38 people killed by flash floods and 14 missing, Xinhua news agency reported. Nineteen people died in four other provinces in central, southern and eastern China. Floods in Guizhou destroyed 5,000 houses and affected 15,000 people in one county alone, Xinhua said. The news agency earlier reported that two bridges and a highway had also been destroyed.
With just over a month to go until Australia's mandatory carbon emissions reporting scheme comes into force, heads of business remain confused about its requirements. From July 1, the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act 2007 requires business to begin collecting mandatory information about their output of greenhouse gas emissions and their production and consumption of energy. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) director Sean Lucy says he expects many Australian business will be caught unawares by the mandatory reporting requirements.
Former US president Jimmy Carter has said Israel holds at least 150 nuclear weapons, the first time a US president has publicly acknowledged the Jewish state's atomic arsenal. Asked at a news conference at Wales' Hay literary festival yesterday how a future US president should deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, Carter put the risk in context by listing atomic weapons held globally.
Environmentally friendly businesses are more likely to attract and retain employees, a sustainable development expert says. Romilly Madew, chief executive officer of the Green Building Council of Australia, says in a recent survey of property owners, developers and valuers, that almost half of all respondents said the pressure to build green was coming from their tenants, and in turn, their staff.
CHINA will dynamite rock, mud and rubble forming a dangerously large "quake lake", hoping to avert a new disaster two weeks after a catastrophic tremor struck Sichuan province. The official death toll from the May 12 earthquake is now more than 60,000, but that number is certain to grow as searchers account for more of the 30,000 missing. Premier Wen Jiabao believes the toll could exceed 80,000. The frenzied initial rescue response is cooling into a battle with nature, deprivation and discontent sure to last long after thousands of aftershocks.
