More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Britain said on Saturday it would work with the energy industry to try to stem the fallout from soaring gas prices after fears grew that more energy providers and food producers would struggle to operate with such high costs.
Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said he had been reassured that the security of gas supply was not a cause for immediate concern but he would work with providers to "manage the wider implications of the global gas price increase."
Kwarteng held emergency talks with executives from National Grid, Centrica, EDF and the regulator Ofgem on Saturday and is due to hold further discussions with industry figures on Sunday and Monday.
A jump in gas prices has already forced several domestic energy suppliers out of business and has shut fertilizer plants that also produce carbon dioxide, used to stun animals before slaughter and prolong the shelf-life of food.
Consumer groups and opposition politicians have warned that some customers and businesses will struggle to pay higher bills. The BBC reported that at least four small British energy companies were expected to go bust next week.
The Business department said the pressures facing companies was discussed during the meeting. Kwarteng said no customer would go without gas or electricity because an alternative supplier would be found if one went bust.
"Protecting customers during a time of heightened global gas prices is an absolute priority," he said on Twitter.
The government has been moved to act after low gas storage levels, decreased supplies from Russia, demand from Asia, low renewables output and nuclear maintenance outages combined to more than triple European gas prices this year, hitting record highs.
The impact was immediately felt in the U.K. food sector where the shortage of CO2, also used in beer, cider and soft drinks, compounded an acute shortage of truck drivers, which has been blamed on the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit.
Nick Allen of the British Meat Processors Association said on Saturday the pig sector was two weeks away from hitting the buffers, while the British Poultry Council said its members were on a "knife-edge" as suppliers could only guarantee deliveries up to 24-hours in advance.
"Doing nothing is not an option," Allen told Reuters, adding that given the exceptional circumstances, the government needed to either subsidize the power supply to maintain fertilizer production or source CO2 from elsewhere.
Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland Foods, said a CO2 shortage would hit meat products, atmospheric packaged products such as cheese and salads, and long life bakery items.
"We need to sort it, quickly," he said.
Dermot Nolan, former head of Ofgem, told the BBC he expected prices to stay high for up to four months and it was not clear what the government could do to affect market rates - meaning they will remain a focal point in the run-up to the COP26 climate conference in Scotland in November, where governments will seek to agree new rules to suppress emissions.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
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The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”