April 2002 Edition
RICE
In a dispute at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) between a Texas based company and the Indian government, India lost its battle against the US patenting of the world famous Basmati (fragrant earth) rice when the USPTO granted patents to three hybrid strains developed in the US. India provided evidence that not only the grain, but also the seeds and plants which produce the grain, have been bred and cultivated in India and Pakistan. The US company may now label its product as a "superior basmati rice".
HEALTH
The World Health Organization predicts that, by the year 2020, depression will be the second greatest cause of premature death and disability worldwide for all ages and both sexes. It currently affects about 121 million people.
CONSTRUCTION
In its continued battle with Quebec over worker access, Ontario is about to ban Quebec workers and companies from Ontario's construction and trucking industries. Ontario claims it is making no progress in negotiations with Quebec about restrictions on workers from Ontario working in Quebec. It is claimed that as many as 7,000 Quebec workers depend on construction jobs in Ottawa alone. Ironically, Toronto home builders are importing 500 skilled tradesmen from overseas because they can't attract enough workers in Canada. These tradespeople are coming from Ukraine, Russia, the Philippines and Chile under a pilot program with the federal government.
COMPENSATION
Last year, major U.S. corporate executives pocketed smaller pay packages than at any time since 1989. Salaries and bonuses of surveyed CEO's dropped a median of 2.9 per cent. That is largely because many companies slashed or omitted their leaders' bonuses which are often linked to profitability. Corporate profits sank a median of 13 per cent.
BAKING
For 53 years, the Pillsbury company has held an annual bake-off. This year's winner, an accountant who won US$1 million, was among 100 finalists. The winning dish? Chicken Florentine Panini...the first winning sandwich. It was made with refrigerated pizza crust, sauteed chicken breasts, spinach and garlic-flavoured mayonnaise.
PROFIT
In 1999, Canadian government business enterprises earned profits of $15.5 billion, $1.5 billion more than in 1998. This was on total revenues of $99 billion. Provincial and territorial government business enterprises posted profits of $10.1 billion on revenues of $66 billion, accounting for more than 65% of all government enterprise profits in 1999. Federal enterprises earned $5 billion and local government enterprises, $0.4 billion. Provincial and territorial lotteries, gaming, and liquor enterprises generated after tax profits of slightly more than $8 billion in 1999, which is approximately 1.5 times the profits of all chartered banks in Canada in that year.
POULTRY
Russia has stopped issuing import licences for U.S. poultry and has placed a temporary ban on poultry imports. This is a move to pressure U.S. producers to divulge what antibiotics, preservatives and other substances are used. U.S producers sent Russia about 1 million tons of poultry, mostly chicken and turkey, worth about US$700 million annually. Russia produced only 564,000 tons of poultry last year.
PROGRESS
The Doomsday Book is the earliest public record of England. Commissioned by William the Conqueror, it details the land holdings and resources of England twenty years after the Norman conquest. Sixteen years ago, in a $5.6 million project to showcase England's electronic prowess, a computer-based multimedia version of the Doomsday Book was developed. Now, the special computers developed to play the 12-inch videodiscs of text, photographs, maps and archival footage of British life are obsolete and unreadable. Meanwhile, the original, nine-hundred year old Doomsday Book is still in fine condition and readable at the Public Records Office.
DIAMONDS
Every day of the year, 328,000 carats of diamonds are mined, many controlled by De Beers who spend US$200 million a year on advertising. The company's millennium advertising campaign increased sales in the first half of the year 2000 by 44 per cent from the previous year. Sales went from US$2.4 billion to US$3.5 billion. De Beers sells US$500 million worth of diamonds every five weeks.
HEATING
For three weeks in February, the heating on the campus of the University of Georgia, and all its hot water, was generated by burning 300,000 gallons of chicken fat and yellow restaurant grease. The experiment, which required the retrofit of one of the campus's steam boilers, worked well burning very cleanly with very low sulphur. Nationally, about 11 billion pounds of waste fat are produced each year in the U.S.
CELLPHONES
For the first time, worldwide sales of new cellphones dipped last year as wireless carriers reduced subsidies for new phones and many consumers held off on upgrades. The decline was 3.2 per cent, from 413 million handsets in 2000 to 400 million in 2001. This is a sharp break from the growth rates between 1996 and 2000, when each year saw a sales increase of 60 per cent.
AID
Canada is contributing C$1.3 million to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for trade-related technical assistance for developing countries. The aim of the assistance is to help those countries that decide to join the WTO but do not have the expertise or resources that would help them reap the full benefits of membership.
RAGE
A new study funded by Hewlett-Packard (Canada) states that photocopiers are a hotbed of stress and anxiety for Canadian workers. Some people are driven to fits of violence by copiers that don't cooperate. The poll found that 12 per cent of Canadians that have used a copier at work have become so frustrated that they have actually kicked or hit it. Another three in 10 said they seriously wished to do so but retrained themselves. People with a university education are the most likely to attack a copier.
WATER
A government analysis shows U.S. waterways are awash in traces of chemicals used in beauty aids, medications, cleaners and foods. Among the substances: caffeine, contraceptives, pain killers, insect repellent, perfumes and nicotine. Scientists say that the problem is that these substances largely escape regulation and defy municipal wastewater treatment. Hydrologists with the U.S. Geological Survey tested water samples in 30 states for 95 common compounds, an emerging class of contaminants known as pharmaceutical and personal care pollutants.
COSTS
On an annual basis, U.S. productivity continued to grow more quickly than did Canada's in 2001. However, Canada maintained an advantage in unit labour costs. In 2001, labour productivity grew 1.2 per cent in Canada and 1.9 per cent in the U. S. This 0.7 per cent difference in favour of American businesses is in line with the average 0.9 per cent gap per year measured since 1995. Despite Canada's softer productivity performance, lower growth in compensation paid by Canadian businesses more than offset this productivity gap.
ATMs
The Canadian Office of Consumer Affairs is warning Canadians about the spread of no-name automated teller machines that can cost users up to $3.00 per transaction. About 13,000 so-called "white label" ATMs--generic machines not operated by Canada's big banks--have sprung up across Canada in the past six years and now make up more than one third of the country's 35,000 banking machines. A recent poll suggests that 35 per cent of Canadians each month withdraw cash from no-name ATMs.
THE DOLLAR
The leading U.S. manufacturers' trade group is calling for a change in U.S. foreign exchange policy which it says undermines U.S. exports. The group claims that the dollar's 30 per cent rise since 1997 amounts to a 30 per cent tariff on U.S. exports of manufactured goods and a consequent loss of manufacturing jobs. The export of U.S. manufactured goods has dropped 20 per cent over the past two years and is expected to drop a further 7 per cent in 2002.
SOFTWARE
India's software exports are likely to grow by over 30 per cent this year and are expected to be worth over US$7.6 billion. This compares with US$6.2 during 2000-01. The number of persons working in the IT industry nearly doubled to 430,000 in 2000-01 over 220,000 in the sector in 1998-99.
LEEKS
The Welsh are upset that the European Union is interfering with one of the national symbols of Wales, the common garden leek. The EU intends that Welsh leeks should conform to international standards. There will be two classes of leeks. Leeks in class one must be of good quality with the white to greenish part of the leek representing at least one third of the total length. Size will be determined by their diameter measured at right angles to the longitudinal axis above the swelling at the neck. The minimum diameter is fixed at 8mm for early leeks and 10mm for other leeks!
TAXES
Tiger Woods paid more tax than anyone last year in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen--after just one weekend of work. Woods was paid US$2 million for two exhibition rounds and paid US$777,000 in taxes. China's per capita net income for urban households was US$1,218. Golf enthusiasts from Hong Kong reportedly paid as much as US$18,000 to play a hole against him.
PLASTIC BAGS
The Irish government has begun collecting a 13 cent environmental tax on plastic bags used in supermarkets, convenience stores and other shops. The tax is intended to encourage shoppers to use tougher reusable bags and cut down on the use of throwaway bags. The government hopes the new charge will raise $160 million annually to be used on Ireland's deteriorating environment.
DESERTIFICATION
According to the Institute of Desert Research, land degradation in China costs the nation US$6.7 billion a year and affects the lives of 400 million people. Current estimates say that 950 square miles of land becomes desert every year a 58 per cent increase since the 1950s much of it land that formally supported crops and livestock. In a nation of over one billion people, all of whom have adequate amounts of food but many of whom need better nutrition, such enormous losses are potentially devastating.
TRENDS
Some restaurants in Britain are forcing customers who like their meat rare to sign a disclaimer form before eating due to fears of the risk of E-coli and salmonella poisoning. The restaurants are prepared to serve rare hamburgers, sausages or minced beef only if diners complete forms giving up rights to take legal action.
TRIVIA
A motorist in Hong Kong sued a would-be suicide who jumped out of a window and landed on his car. The women who jumped argued however, that she should not pay as his car was illegally parked.
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