• In the last week of June, Japan and China resorted to importing American beef, putting an end to the ban that the two countries had imposed in the wake of mad cow disease. Soon after the ban was lifted, a case of mad cow disease was detected in a crossbred beef cow in Prairie province of Manitoba, Canada.
• Exxon Mobil Corporation, a major oil company of the US, faces another lawsuit over a big underground oil spill in New York's Brooklyn area. The oil spill is seeping sticky sludge into the city waterway, even decades after the leak was first noticed. Irked over the slow pace of cleanup, residents have launched a series of lawsuits against the company in the past year.
• India and Pakistan failed to release hundreds of fishermen languishing in each other's jails following a quarrel over the number of prisoners to be released. The two countries had vowed to release the fishermen by June 30.
• The Tea Board of India will finance five tea-processing factories in Assam exclusively for the state's small tea planters, said the Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh after a recent visit to several plantations in upper Assam. The proposed factories will be managed by small planters through cooperatives or self-help-groups. "The project will be an experimental one and more factories will come up if it clicks," says Ramesh.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.