By Rod NickelWINNIPEG, Manitoba, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Ottawa will support
the Canadian Wheat Board for up to five years after it
dismantles the board’s 69-year-old grain marketing monopoly, a
senior government source said on Monday.The federal government plans to introduce legislation on
Tuesday to remove the Wheat Board’s monopoly over Western
Canada’s wheat and barley for milling and export.The Conservative government intends to pass the legislation
by the end of 2011 and move to an open market system on Aug. 1,
2012.For the following five years, Ottawa is willing to help the
board survive in an open market, the senior government source
said, adding that the government will outline details of its
plans in the new legislation.”Western Canadian wheat and barley farmers can better drive
our economy and create jobs if they have marketing freedom,
whether that’s through a voluntary Canadian Wheat Board or on
an open market,” according to the source.”To do that, it’s expected that the legislation will allow
the government to support the Wheat Board’s transition for up
to five years, when they will be expected to transition to full
private ownership.”Financial assistance seems likely to be included in the
government’s support plan, and the Wheat Board called earlier
in the day for start-up capital and a reserve fund worth a
total of C$425 million ($417 million).The CWB also wants regulated access to grain-handling
elevators and port terminals, since it owns none, and continued
government guarantees of its borrowings.Viterra Inc , Richardson International Ltd and
Cargill Incown the largest networks of
grain-handling elevators and port terminals in Western Canada.Canada is the world’s biggest exporter of spring wheat,
durum and malting barley.
The decision to delay the sixth semiannual report to Congress under the Obama administration, which was due on Saturday, came days after the Senate approved legislation that aims to pressure Beijing to let its yuan rise in value faster.The delay “will give us a chance to assess progress following several international meetings,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.Ministers and leaders of the Group of Twenty major global economies and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, bodies in which the United States and China are key players, are scheduled to meet this month and in November.President Barack Obama and key figures in his cabinet, while stopping short of endorsing the currency bill, have voiced clear sympathy with lawmakers’ contention that China undervalues the yuan to give its companies a price advantage in global markets.”China has been gaming the trading system to hold down the value of its currency to give its companies a leg up. Its currency has appreciated, but not enough,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a speech in New York on Friday.Clinton, whose currency remarks echoed those of Obama this week, also raised concern that some provisions could violate World Trade Organization rules.DEMOCRATS PUSH REPUBLICANSBeijing says it is committed to gradual currency reform and has pressed the White House to block the currency bill, which it says is protectionist and against WTO rules.The Democratic-controlled Senate on Tuesday voted 63-35 to pass the bill, which would allow the United States to slap duties on goods from countries with undervalued currencies.But the measure has been held up in the Republican-run House of Representatives, where Speaker John Boehner opposes the measure and has branded it “dangerous.”Boehner, the most powerful Republican in Congress, could make sure the bill never comes up for a vote. A similar measure cleared that chamber last year 348-79, when it was controlled by Democrats.U.S. Democratic lawmakers vowed on Friday to keep pressing for a vote on the currency bill, saying the legislation Republican leaders are blocking is vital for U.S. trade competitiveness.”It is estimated that currency manipulation costs our economy over a million jobs,” said Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives. “I urge the Republican leadership to put the currency bill on the floor.”Hoyer also urged Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who has promised to label China a currency manipulator on his first day in office, to press the issue with other Republicans.”He certainly ought to talk to Mr. Boehner,” Hoyer said.A bipartisan group has reintroduced the bill the House passed last year and it currently has 225 co-sponsors, including 61 Republicans. Only 218 votes would be needed to pass the measure if it came up for a vote.A “discharge petition” to try to force House action has garnered 175 signatures but 218 are needed. No Republicans are supporting that effort.GEITHNER: “BIG PROBLEM WITH CHINA”The Obama administration, in five previous reports that were also delayed, declined to take the step of formally labeling China a manipulator. Doing so would require stepped-up negotiations with China over its exchange rate.The previous Treasury report on May 27 found China did not meet the U.S. legal definition of a currency manipulator, but said Beijing still needed to allow the yuan to rise much faster in value.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, long a proponent of a multilateral approach to get China to adjust its exchange rate, expressed what appeared to be growing impatience with China within the administration.”We have a big problem with China as a country and an economy,” he told the CNBC news network in an interview.”It’s a global problem, and it’s partly because they’re not letting their exchange rate rise rapidly enough,” he said.”We’re very supportive of the objectives of that bill,” said Geithner, while repeating administration caveats about the bill’s compliance with WTO rules.”We’re open to any tool, any piece of legislation, that gives us more leverage that could be effective in helping advance our interests,” he said.
A team of researchers led by the Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge used cutting-edge methods to correct a genetic mutation in stem cells derived from a patient’s skin biopsy, and then grew them into fresh liver cells.By putting the new liver cells into mice, they showed they were fully functioning.”We have developed new systems to target genes and … correct … defects in patient cells,” said Allan Bradley, director of the Sanger Institute.At a briefing about the work, Bradley said the technique — the first success of its kind — leaves behind no trace of the genetic manipulation, except for the gene correction.”These are early steps, but if this technology can be taken into treatment, it will offer great possible benefits for patients,” he added.Stem cells are the body’s master cells, the source for all other cells. Scientists say they could transform medicine, providing treatments for blindness, spinal cord and other severe injuries, and new cells for damaged organs.Research is focused on two main forms — embryonic stem cells, which are harvested from embryos, and reprogrammed cells, also known as induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which are reprogrammed from ordinary skin or blood cells.When they were first discovered in 2006, iPS cells looked like a perfect solution to the ethical debate over the use of embryonic stem cells because they are made in a lab from ordinary skin or blood cells. Embryonic stem cells are usually harvested from leftover embryos at fertility clinics and their use is opposed by many religious groups.But in recent years, concerns have been raised that iPS cells may not be as “clean” or as capable as embryonic cells.Last year, a group led by Robert Lanza, of the U.S. firm Advanced Cell Technology, compared batches of iPS cells with embryonic stem cells and noticed the iPS cells died more quickly and were much less able to grow and expand.CORRECTING MUTATIONIn Wednesday’s study, published in the journal Nature, the British team took skin cells from a patient with a mutation in a gene called alpha1-antitrypsin, which is responsible for making a protein that protects against inflammation.People with mutant alpha1-antitrypsin are not able to release the protein properly from the liver, so it becomes trapped there and eventually leads to liver cirrhosis and lung emphysema. This is one of the most common inherited liver and lung disorders and affects about one in 2,000 people of North European origin, the researchers said.Having harvested the skin cells, the scientists reprogrammed them back into stem cells and then used a type of “molecular scissor” technique known as a zinc finger nuclease to snip the cells’ genome at precisely the right place and insert a correct version of the gene using a DNA transporter called piggyBac.The leftover piggyBac sequences were then removed from the cells, cleaning them up and allowing them to be converted into liver cells without any trace of residual DNA damage at the site of the genetic correction.”We then turned those cells into human liver cells and put them in a mouse and showed that they were viable,” David Lomas, a Cambridge professor of respiratory biology who also worked on the team, told reporters at the briefing.Ludovic Vallier, also from Cambridge University, said the results were a first step toward personalized cell therapy for genetic liver disorders. “We still have major challenges to overcome…but we now have the tools necessary,” he said.The researchers said it could be another five to 10 years before full clinical trials of the technique could be run using patients with liver disease. But if they succeed, liver transplants — costly and complicated procedures where patients need a lifetime of drugs to ensure the new organ is not rejected — could become a thing of the past.”If we can use a patient’s own skins cells to produce liver cells that we can put back into the patient, we may prevent the future need for transplantation,” said Lomas.
Some might argue that Melbourne’s bar scene is enjoying a second Golden Age.The first would have been the 1800s.”As Jerry Thomas was publishing his cocktail book in 1862 and Americans were falling for the mixed drink, gold was making Melbourne one of the world’s wealthiest cities,” recounts Martin Newell, a local brand ambassador with rum maker Bacardi.”And with a taste for gold came a taste for cocktails.”Naturally, a number of Melbourne’s bars celebrate this era, albeit with a few modern twists.For example, at the Lui Bar (here)on the 55th floor of Rialto Towers, Australian bartending icon Sebastian Reaburn tells the story of Melbourne’s 19th-century cocktail culture through the bar menu, showcasing drinks like the Lola Montez Spider Dance Fizz (Grand Marnier, fresh blood orange juice and Champagne), named after an 1850s erotic dancer.Similarly, in the Central Bar District (CBD), office workers after hours tip their glass at 1806 (www.1806.com.au/), a cocktail bar named for the year that the word “cocktail” is thought to have first appeared in print. The cocktail menu is arranged in a spectacular chronological format - with drinks spanning from 1846 straight through to present day. Downstairs, The Understudy focuses on cutting-edge concoctions.Nearby, the iconic Gin Palace (www.ginpalace.com.au/),a small bar mainstay since 1997, pays homage to the storied Martini.Other recommended stops include Melbourne Supper Club (161 Spring St), famed for its epic wine list, cigar humidor and view of Parliament House, and The Attic (304 Brunswick St), which recently opened above The Black Pearl and draws locals in with generous leather chairs and well-made cocktails.Most would say this wide-ranging selection of watering holes is nothing short of golden.RECIPE: The Port StingerA Stinger is a classic cocktail dating back to the pre-Prohibition era, usually a duo of brandy and crème de menthe. But a number of variations exist, including this version from bartender Chris Hysted of The Attic, which in true Melbourne style, deftly combines the old and the new.”Hysted has created cult status for it,” Newell says of the drink. “Ordering it should bring you instant respect.” 2 parts tawny port 1 part crème de menthe Shake, serve in an icy cold cocktail glass or coupette and garnish with a mint sprig.
