■ Canada
Conservatives unite
After more than a decade of often bitter relations, Canada's two conservative parties reached an agreement on Thursday to unite into a single party in an effort to give the governing Liberal Party a competitive race in national elections next year. The Canadian Alliance, a populist party strong in the west, and the Progressive Conservative Party, which is strong in the eastern Maritime Provinces, remain far behind the Liberals in the polls. But the leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Peter MacKay, predicted that the unifying of the right will spark "a groundswell of support" and completely change the political dynamics of the country.
■ Tanzania
Used underwear banned
Tanzania has banned imports of secondhand underwear, fearing the used garments might spread skin diseases, an official said on Thursday. Underpants, bras, stockings and underskirts are all covered by the new rule, which will be enforced by inspectors examining consignments of used clothes entering the east African country. "This is a measure to safeguard human health," said Liandry Kinabo, head of process technology standards at the Tanzania Bureau of Standards. Imports of secondhand clothes from rich nations form a significant part of the economy in Tanzania and various other African countries, where many people cannot afford new clothes.
■ United Kingdom
Grandmother forced to fake
An English grandmother has successfully resorted to the desperate measure of faking copious blood loss to have the surgery she needed to cure a painful hiatus hernia, The Times reported on Thursday. Trizka Litton, 62, from the English Midlands, had waited seven months for her operation, suffering increasing pain before she mixed cranberry juice with crumbled biscuits to simulate her own blood and dialled 999 for an ambulance. "I think it is dreadfully sad when decent, law-abiding people like me are driven to such desperate measures to get treatment. Had I not been underhand, I might be dead," she said.
■ United Kingdom
Two GM varieties banned
Two genetically modified (GM) varieties, oil-seed rape and sugar beet, face a Europe-wide ban after long-awaited field trials showed that the crops damaged wildlife, and would have a serious long-term effect on bee, butterfly and bird populations. Three years of trials growing GM crops alongside conventional crops in the UK, has provided a legal basis for banning the two crops under EU rules. In the case of conventional oil-seed rape, five times as many weed seeds survived, providing food for birds like skylarks, than in the GM field.
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