Greece starts drive to sell new debt deal to doubting Europe

A man holding an umbrella makes his way in front of the Greek parliament during rainfall in AthensBy Angeliki Koutantou ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece's leftist government on Sunday began its drive to persuade a skeptical Europe to accept a new debt agreement while it starts to roll back on austerity measures imposed under its existing bailout agreement. After a turbulent first week in office, the new government has made clear it wants to end the existing arrangement with the European Union, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund "troika" when its aid deadline expires on Feb. 28. Instead, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wants to agree a bridging deal with the troika while a new agreement is negotiated to reduce Greece's unmanageable public debt burden of more than 175 percent of its economic output is worked out. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who spoke to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Friday, is due to kick off a diplomatic offensive in Paris on Sunday, where he meets French counterpart Michel Sapin and Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron.

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China eyes food safety, modern farms in 2015 rural policy

A sales assistant helps a customer to select Dumex milk powders at a supermarket in HefeiChina has listed food safety and modernizing farms as among key priorities this year, its 2015 rural policy outline showed, as it tackles falling agricultural productivity that has raised concerns about its future food supply. The "number one document", issued every January and released by state news agency Xinhua on Sunday, showed China will also protect farmland and lend more to farmers to narrow a wealth gap between rural and urban areas. Modern farms will be set up, and regulation of the quality of food and other farm products will be enhanced, it said. On land reforms, aimed at allowing farmers to trade their land to alleviate poverty and create bigger and more efficient farms, the document said the focus is on expanding an experiment that registers land usage rights to cover entire provinces.

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International campaigners urge UK to allow ‘three-parent’ IVF babies

The process, still only at the research stage in Britain and the United States, involves intervening in the fertilization process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. Britain last February set out draft legislation that, if passed, would make it the first country to allow the technique. In their letter, groups including the U.S.-based United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation and groups from France, Germany, Britain and Spain, described mitochondrial disease as “unimaginably cruel”. The issue of mitochondrial donation has been scrutinized by several expert panels in Britain, including the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
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