Thailand’s SSI to buy UK plant mothballed by Corus

A man steers a kite buggy on the beach in front of Corus's mothballed steelworks at Redcar in north-east England. Photo: AP

Teesside Cast Products was partially closed down in February after a consortium of international investors pulled out of a legally-binding 10-year contract. More than 1,000 workers lost their jobs and fears were growing that hundreds more people would be made redundant if the plant was not sold.

Thai steel company SSI has now signed a memorandum of understanding with Corus to buy the plant for $500m (£320m), which would see it export 3.5m tonnes of steel to Thailand. The deal, if completed, would safeguard 700 jobs and create “hundreds” more roles at the plant.

However, it is unclear whether SSI is looking for some form of government support to see the deal through. Win Viriyaprapaikit, SSI president, said he would be meeting with ministers in coming weeks to gain regulatory approval, but could not say whether he was seeking financial input.

Kirby Adams, chief executive of Corus, said the announcement was “extremely good news” for Teesside, adding he was “convinced” the sale would go ahead. He attacked critics who doubted Corus would find a buyer. “It has been the chief objective of myself, of Corus and [owners] Tata Steel to find a viable long-term future for steel-making on Teesside,” he said.

He added Corus would continue to pursue its legal case against the consortium who pulled out of its contract.

PNE employee taken to hospital after drinking poisoned water

A PNE employee became ill and was taken to hospital Thursday after buying and drinking a bottle of Dasani water at Hunky Bill's and Barnacle Bill's concession stand. Authorities are investigating.

A Pacific National Exhibition employee was taken to hospital Thursday night after buying and drinking a bottle of water at the fair poisoned with what is thought to be ammonium chloride.

Just after 11 p.m., the PNE employee experienced dizziness and muscle weakness and was taken to hospital 30 minutes after drinking a bottle of water from Hunky Bill's & Barnacle Bill's concession stand inside the fair, Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Jana McGuinness said in a press release.

Upon later inspection, it was apparent that the bottle of Dasani water contained small holes where a syringe had apparently been inserted and the chemical injected in what PNE spokeswoman Laura Ballance called a single isolated incident.

The Vancouver police department is investigating the incident and, according to Vancouver Coastal Health spokeswoman Anna Marie D'Angelo, there have been no other reports of similar illnesses to Vancouver Coastal Health.

"Thousands of bottles of this type of water were sold at the PNE yesterday with no other reports of illness and Vancouver Coastal Health is supporting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in their investigation," D'Angelo said.

Ammonium chloride is a chemical irritant that, when ingested, can cause nausea, vomiting and sore throat, according to the International Programme on Chemical Safety.

D'Angelo said the employee was released from hospital shortly after being admitted and is expected to make a full recovery.

Ballance said PNE staff inspected their entire inventory of 30,000 bottles of Dasani water Friday and did not find any further problems.

VPD investigators inspected every bottle of water in the Hunky Bill's concession stand and the stand had reopened Friday, McGuinness said. She added that the water bottle in question had been delivered to the concession stand early Thursday morning.

"The health department went through the whole inventory," said Mark Konyk, manager of Hunky Bill's & Barnacle Bill's. "Between Coke [the makers of Dasani] and the PNE, they took it all out and they got us product back in so we're all good to go."

It remains unclear at what point the tainted bottle was injected with the chemical, Ballance said.

Mark Clarke, a spokesman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said Friday that CFIA inspectors were at the fair trying to determine where in the water's processing and distribution stage it became tainted.

Clarke said that if the water was tainted in the manufacturing stage, the investigation would be solely in the CFIA's jurisdiction, but if it was determined that the poisoning happened post-production, then the VPD would take the lead on the investigation.

"We're not a hundred per cent sure if somebody sabotaged the bottle or if this was something that happened at the plant," said Clarke. "Right now it's looking like it was sabotaged, but we just have to do our due diligence to be sure."

The VPD was still testing the substance in the bottle Friday and gathering forensic evidence from the outside of the bottle, McGuinness said.

Spending abroad raises travel deficit

Canadians travelling to other countries pushed the international travel deficit to a record level.

A jump in spending by Canadians travelling outside the country pushed the international travel deficit to a record $3.5 billion in the second quarter of this year, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The deficit was up from $464 million in the previous quarter and reached the highest level since the federal agency began keeping records in 1972.

Canadians spent $7.5 billion abroad between April and June, up 5.9 per cent from the first quarter -- the biggest increase since the fourth quarter of 2007.

"In contrast, spending by foreign travellers in Canada decreased 1.1 per cent to $4 billion from the first quarter, when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics," the agency said.

Spending by Canadian travellers to the U.S. jumped 5.7 per cent in the quarter, to $4.5 billion, as Canadians took five million overnight trips south of the border -- an increase of 3.2 per cent.

Americans did not return the favour: Spending by U.S. travellers dropped 1.6 per cent from the first quarter to $1.7 billion -- the lowest spending level since the third quarter of 1997, the agency said, and the sixth consecutive quarter where American spending in Canada was under $1.8 billion. Americans also made fewer trips to Canada in the second quarter, down 2.1 per cent to 2.8 million.

Canada's travel deficit with overseas countries grew by $194 million to $781 million in the second quarter, the agency said.

Spending abroad raises travel deficit

Canadians travelling to other countries pushed the international travel deficit to a record level.

A jump in spending by Canadians travelling outside the country pushed the international travel deficit to a record $3.5 billion in the second quarter of this year, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The deficit was up from $464 million in the previous quarter and reached the highest level since the federal agency began keeping records in 1972.

Canadians spent $7.5 billion abroad between April and June, up 5.9 per cent from the first quarter -- the biggest increase since the fourth quarter of 2007.

"In contrast, spending by foreign travellers in Canada decreased 1.1 per cent to $4 billion from the first quarter, when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics," the agency said.

Spending by Canadian travellers to the U.S. jumped 5.7 per cent in the quarter, to $4.5 billion, as Canadians took five million overnight trips south of the border -- an increase of 3.2 per cent.

Americans did not return the favour: Spending by U.S. travellers dropped 1.6 per cent from the first quarter to $1.7 billion -- the lowest spending level since the third quarter of 1997, the agency said, and the sixth consecutive quarter where American spending in Canada was under $1.8 billion. Americans also made fewer trips to Canada in the second quarter, down 2.1 per cent to 2.8 million.

Canada's travel deficit with overseas countries grew by $194 million to $781 million in the second quarter, the agency said.