News » During negotiations, France and Belgium str

WELLINGTON Chukwuma Okorafor Jersey , March 10 (Xinhua) -- None of the 80 overseas markets buying New Zealand infant formula has indicated they will stop imports because of a poisoning threat, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said Tuesday.


The government had been in contact with officials in overseas markets since the blackmail letters threatening to put the poison 1080 in infant and other formula made in New Zealand, Guy said in a televised press conference.


It would be very difficult for someone to tamper with a can of formula without the consumer seeing it.


He was speaking after the revelation by police and food safety officials that they had failed to discover who had issued the threat in anonymous letters sent to farming and dairy industry leaders in November last year in an apparent protest over the use of 1080 poison to control pests.


He described the letters as "eco-terrorism" and said they amounted to "criminal blackmail."


The government had to give police time to investigate the threat before going public, but it had reached out to overseas markets and industry-related organizations that were briefed.


Prime Minister John Key said at the same press conference that the government was confident New Zealand products were safe.


While the risk was very low and the letters were likely a hoax Terrell Edmunds Jersey , it had to be taken seriously, said Key.


Police said the letters sent to the Federated Farmers industry group and the Fonterra dairy cooperative were accompanied by small packages of milk powder that subsequently tested positive for the presence of a concentrated form of the poison 1080.


The letters threatened to contaminate infant and other formula with 1080 unless New Zealand stopped using 1080 for pest control by the end of March 2015.


Sodium monofluoroacetate, known as 1080, is a poison used to protect New Zealand's native flora and fauna against introduced pests such as possums and ferrets.


Its use has been controversial over the years with opponents saying it poisons native animals and contaminates the environment.

A pro-Brexit campaigner smiles at a public meeting in central London on February 19 Joshua Dobbs Jersey , 2016 (AFP PhotoNiklas Halle'N) A pro-Brexit campaigner smiles at a public meeting in central London on February 19, 2016 (AFP PhotoNiklas Halle'N) A pro-Brexit campaigner smiles at a public meeting in central London on February 19, 2016 (AFP PhotoNiklas Halle'N) Chart showing how UK goods trade with EU states has fluctuated since 2008 (AFP PhotoGillian Handyside, Philippe Mouche) Nigel Farage Cameron Sutton Jersey , leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) speaks to the press before a public meeting by pro-Brexit campaigners in central London on February 19, 2016 (AFP PhotoNiklas Halle'N)

Brussels - British Prime Minister David Cameron sealed a deal for "special status" in the EU after a marathon summit, paving the way for him to campaign to stay in the bloc in a historic referendum.


The unanimous agreement came after two days and nights of intense negotiations in Brussels, despite European leaders digging in their heels on all the major reforms Cameron sought.


The British premier will hold an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday as he embarks on the difficult process of selling the deal at home ahead of the referendum Joe Haden Jersey , expected on June 23.


"I've negotiated a deal to give the UK special status in the European Union," Cameron told a press conference.


"I will be campaigning with all my heart and soul to persuade the British people to remain in the reformed European Union that we have secured today."


He said the deal contained a seven-year "emergency brake" on welfare payments for EU migrants and meant Britain would be "permanently out of ever closer union".


While Britain's place in the EU now rests in the hands of the British public, the deal removes one major headache for the bloc as it faces the biggest migration crisis in Europe's history.


EU president Donald Tusk -- the man who brokered the deal -- said the "unanimous" agreement "strengthens Britain's special status in the EU" and was "legally binding and irreversible".


- 'Fair compromise' -


German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's most powerful leader Javon Hargrave Jersey , said the accord was a "fair compromise".


"I do not think that we gave too much to Great Britain," she said.


French President Francois Hollande, meanwhile, insisted that the British deal contained "no exceptions to the rules" of the EU.


Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite Sean Davis Jersey , the first to break the news of the agreement, tweeted: "Drama over."


Yet the drama is only just beginning for Cameron, as he battles eurosceptic members of his own Conservative Party and a hostile popular media.


Britain's newspapers went to press shortly before the deal was officially announced, and most of Saturday's editions focussed on the expected announcement that Cameron's long-time ally Michael Gove was to support a "Brexit".


The Guardian Artie Burns Jersey , Daily Telegraph, and Independent all carried front-page pictures of the former education secretary while the eurosceptic Daily Express ran with headline: "Gove to lead us out of EU."


Cameron will fly back to London where, after a cabinet meeting at 1000 GMT on Saturday, the referendum campaign will whirr into life as ministers who want Britain to leave will be allowed to speak out for the first time.


Opinion polls suggest the British public is finely balanced on whether to back a Brexit.


Anand Menon Maurkice Pouncey Jersey , professor of European politics at King's College London, said he expected both sides to emphasise the risks of either leaving or sticking with the status quo.


"This is going to be a depressingly negative campaign," he told AFP.


- Headaches at home -


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