Le Botanique, a Brussels-area greenhouse facility repurposed as a cultural centre and live music venue. (CIA.gov)

Belgian ‘Non’ blocks EU approval of CETA

Luxembourg | Reuters — EU governments failed on Tuesday to approve a free trade agreement with Canada, as continued opposition from French-speaking southern Belgium threatened the entire deal. Almost all 28 EU governments, whose ministers were meeting in Luxembourg, now back the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which would be the bloc’s first trade […] Read more

(Save-A-Lot.com)

Canada’s Onex to buy U.S. grocery chain Save-A-Lot

Reuters — Food retailer and wholesaler Supervalu Inc. said it will sell its Save-A-Lot business to Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp. for US$1.37 billion rather than spinning off the discount grocery chain as previously planned, the companies said on Monday. Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Supervalu had been looking to separate the more profitable division, which […] Read more


(EC.europa.eu)

Belgian ‘Non’ clouds EU meeting to approve CETA

Luxembourg | Reuters — European Union trade ministers meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday aiming to approve a free trade agreement with Canada but facing regional opposition in Belgium that threatens to scupper the entire deal. All 28 EU governments now back the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which would be the bloc’s first trade […] Read more



(EC.europa.eu)

German court rejects bid to block Canada-EU trade deal

Berlin/Ottawa | Reuters –– Germany’s Constitutional Court cleared the government on Thursday to approve a free trade accord between the European Union and Canada under defined conditions, boosting the agreement’s chances of passing an EU vote next week. However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made clear he was losing patience with the EU over the […] Read more

NASA’s Terra satellite observes Post-Tropical Cyclone Matthew being absorbed by a cold front along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard on Oct. 9 at 11:45 a.m. ET. (NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team)

Millions of chickens reported dead in Hurricane Matthew floods

Chicago | Reuters — Flooding from Hurricane Matthew has killed up to five million poultry birds in North Carolina, most of them chickens, the state’s top environmental official said Wednesday. Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, also told Reuters that some pits that hold hog waste on farms […] Read more


A preserved portion of the Berlin Wall in Berlin, Germany. (CIA.gov)

Germany’s top court hears CETA challenge

Karlsruhe, Germany | Reuters — Germany’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday began hearing a legal challenge to a planned EU-Canada free trade deal that could paralyze the accord. Three German activist groups handed in 125,000 signatures to the court in August in opposition to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which they fear will undermine […] Read more