While Steel industry across the country is seeking 10 per cent import duty on steel products, the primary and secondary steel manufacturers opposed any increase in import duty. Steel industry said that international steel prices are coming down and some CIS countries and China are exporting steel at quite lower prices to secondary producers causing huge loss to domestic steel producers.

Two days after the Indian Navy was compelled to repulse pirate attacks on a Saudi and an Indian merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, India has put forward a proposal asking for a ‘unified command’ UN peace-keeping force under, in order to prevent the increasing number of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia. 
  

Going by the latest figures released, Canada’s health care spending is growing faster than the economy, outpacing inflation and population growth.

Representing 10.7 per cent of the gross domestic product, health care spending has reached $171.9 billion or $5,170 per person, the highest share ever recorded in Canada.

When it comes to province-wise per-person spending, the figures for Alberta and Manitoba stand at $5,730 and $5,555 respectively. The provinces that spend the lowest are Quebec at $4,653 and British Columbia at $5,093.

Under Canada’s new movie pirating legislation, the first person to be convicted is a man from Calgary, who pleaded guilty on Friday to the unauthorized recording of ‘Sweeney Todd’, a Johnny Depp movie.

Richard Craig Lissaman - arrested in a northeast Calgary theatre on December 21 last year - was fined $1,495 and placed on probation for a year by provincial court Judge Catherine Skene.

Lissaman has also been imposed a one-year probation including a ban on purchase, ownership or possession of any video recording equipment, even one on a cellphone, outside his home during his probation period.

The NHS budget has doubled in the past five years, from £45bn to £90bn, the fastest growth in its history. While some NHS workers have enjoyed a pay bonanza, it has not been spread evenly. The biggest rises have gone to doctors, with senior GPs who run their own practices enjoying rises of 58 per cent on average in the three years from 2003 – an average income of £113,614.

The NHS bosses have been accused of “double standards” for getting huge pay hikes while frontline staff took an effective cut.

Researchers say in the British Medical Journal that guidelines on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) should be updated in light of the recent findings that older 'overlooked' treatments - using fiber, antispasmodic drugs, and peppermint oil - may end up being the best option for IBS patients.