News stories by Paul Weinberg

TORONTO, Oct 06 (IPS) - Canada's tar sands oil boom may be in jeopardy and it appears the ruling Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not have any plan B in its ambition to remake this resource-rich country into "an energy superpower."

TORONTO, May 08 (IPS) - An estimated one billion small farmers scratching out a living growing diverse crops and raising animals in developing countries represent the key to maintaining food production in the face of hotter temperatures and drought, especially in the tropical regions, says Sarah Elton, author of the book, "Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet."

TORONTO, Mar 17 (IPS) - Job cuts totalling 1,000 at Environment Canada's climate change division this month means there will be even fewer government scientists onboard to monitor the impact of the extraction, development and transportation of crude oil from the carbon-intensive oil sands in Alberta.

TORONTO, Jan 16 (IPS) - Many of the challenges faced by the Conservative government in its relations with Canada's aboriginal peoples may come to a head at the 200th birthday events for Sir John A. Macdonald, the country's first prime minister, set for Jan. 11, 2015.

TORONTO, Jul 22 (IPS) - NATO member countries like Canada will be continue to be asked to shoulder the burden of a military mission stuck in Afghanistan because of the continued vulnerability of the Kabul-based government.

TORONTO, Feb 04 (IPS) - Canada's major Israel lobby organisation is running into conflict with critics who say it is betraying the historical liberal legacy of this country's 380,000-member Jewish community.

TORONTO, Nov 21 (IPS) - Canada's military buying binge under the current Conservative government has hit a financial brick wall in these austere times, but there is no nostalgic return in sight for Ottawa's once robust participation in United Nations-led peacekeeping missions.

TORONTO, Sep 17 (IPS) - Scepticism continues in Canada about why the national government abruptly cut off diplomatic relations with Iran earlier this month, although ties between the two states have been rocky since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Potential storms are on the horizon for much praised, regulated and privately-owned Canadian banks which survived the 2008 financial meltdown unscathed, unlike some of their larger counterparts in the United States.

The image of United Nations peacekeeping operations has become seriously tarnished in recent years, say some independent experts who monitor the U.N. missions around the world.