Yes, you read that title right. McDonald's (MCD) has just penned a deal with Weight Watchers (WTW) in New Zealand. The agreement will give McDonald's the right to associate the Weight Watchers logo with some Weight Watcher approved fast food items by including that logo on McDonald's menu boards and some other items.

A report from The Sydney Morning Herald indicates that some nutritionists and doctors are already raising concerns about the new marketing ploy. The report quotes Boyd Swinburn, from the Australian Society for the Study of Obesity at Deakin University, as stating, "Make no mistake, this is about selling more burgers and fries." Imagine that, a marketing strategy aimed at increasing sales. Someone needs to explain that concept to Mr. Swinburn.

The British pound (CME: $BPY) hit $1.60 for the first time in more than half a year this morning, thanks to improved service company sentiment and an increase in mortgage approvals. A rise in consumer confidence in the United States increased risk appetite and lifted the pound, as well.

The news was good enough for a 0.5% gain for the pound against the dollar, a 0.6% increase relative to the euro and 1% against the yen (CME: /JY\M09).

Just call it 'two steps forward, one step back' for the global trade talks.

The collapse of the World Trade Organization's trade talks this week without an agreement is a setback, economists contacted by BloggingStocks agreed, but it is not likely likely to prevent international trade from growing in 2009.

The nine-day talks in Geneva -- aimed at completing the Doha Round -- collapsed Tuesday after the United States and the European Union could not reach an agreement with China and India on what constituted acceptable tariffs for food imports, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The U.S. and E.U. say China and India wanted to impose prohibitively high tariffs. China and India counter that they were insisting on safeguard rules to protect their food supplies.

Economist Glen Langan told BloggingStocks the elimination of food import tariffs would have resulted in more-efficient deployment of resources, and, ultimately, lower food prices for consumer around the world, along with increased the increased commerce that trade brings. "The failure of the talks is a real loss for consumers in China, India and in the U.S. and Europe," Langan said. "It will also really hurt low cost food producers in Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Ultimately, China and India will have to relent, or the west may begin to complain about free trade conditions for manufacturing and services. That manufacturing free trade policy has been the source of a considerable amount of China's and India's economic growth."

Alcoa has agreed to sell its packaging and consumer businesses to New Zealand's Rank Group Limited for $2.7 billion, the company announced Wednesday. Alcoa (NYSE: AA)'s shares gained 37 cents to $37.38 in Wednesday afternoon trading.

Alcoa's packaging / consumer unit generated about $3.2 billion in revenue and $95 million in after-tax operating income in 2006, or about 3% of operating income, the company said.

Alcoa said it's also seeking to sell its Reynolds Wrap, consumer products, flexible packaging, and plastic / aluminum packaging closure units in order to more fully concentrate on its mining / aluminum production business.

I am continually fascinated with those scientists in New Zealand. It seems they'll let nothing hold them back in their relentless pursuit to improve the world. This time they've really amazed me though with their announcement that they have finally bred a cow which produces "skim" milk. Officials at the biotech firm ViaLactia have visions of low-fat milk-producing dairy herds dancing in their heads.

When speaking about their newly isolated low-fat cow, ViaLactia's chief scientist Russell Snell said, "she produces a normal level of protein in her milk but substantially less fat, and the fat she does produce has much more unsaturated fat," Snell said. "She also produces milk with very high levels of omega3 oils." Additionally, the firm claims that they have determined that the low fat traits can be passed on to the cow's offspring.

It's taken nearly six years for the company to determine that this trait is actually carried in the cow's genetic construction and not a simple anomaly. Scientists needed to have the significant cow bred, have her produce female offspring, raise that female offspring to breeding age and the "freshen" her (bring her to milk production) through her own breeding. After all that was done, scientists were then able to test the newly freshened cow's milk to determine that it indeed was as significant as her mother's.

Soon we may very well be seeing cows wearing running shoes and head bands as the new age of dairy begins to dawn. Milk which is naturally low in fat yet contains all the nutritional value of the previous generations is surely going to gather some major attention. In the mean time, I recommend that you keep a watchful eye turned towards New Zealand. It seems to me that the scientific community over there has some real bright stars working for them.

I've just returned from the World Money Show, where some 10,000+ investors gathered to learn about global investing. I had a chance to meet with many of the advisors who were featured at the show, and now I am highlighting some of their favorite investment ideas. To view all of the stocks featured in this special global report, click here.

"In the commodities bull market that has shaken the foundations of Wall Street over the past year, Australia has been in the center of the action," says Jon Markman, editor of Strategic Investing.

"Although its reputation among the public primarily rests on its sunny beaches, broad smiles, and big beers, the interior of the country has turned out to be one big gold mine. Or iron ore mine. Or coal mine. Or uranium mine. Or ... well, you get the picture. Australia is a floating rock for the ages.

"This kind of wealth generation has a lot of consequences in the economy, not the least of which is ignition of the entrepreneurial spirit. Employees and vendors get rich, and decide to go out and start or expand new businesses of their own.

"And that has certainly happened in Australia, as small-business borrowing is soaring in the country. According to Bloomberg News, bank lending is rising at its fastest pace in 16 years. Capacity at Australian factories reached a record low in the fourth quarter of last year, spurring these new investments.

"Banks are always a big beneficiary of increased business, as they make a lot of money on lending so long as their own borrowing costs stay relatively benign. We actually have two names in the Australian banking sector that I hold on my elite Core Select portfolio list.

There's no word yet on how this small development might touch Exxon (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX) or Conoco (NYSE: COP), but a little upstart in New Zealand called Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation has successfully test driven a vehicle fueled with a biodiesel blend called B5. The new fuel technology exploits biodiesel, which is readily created from harvested algae grown in nutrient rich sewage settling ponds. The best part is that the algae used is created in huge volumes by a process that is already in wide spread use.

In an article reported on the Green Progress website, Aquaflow states that they are years ahead of original estimates regarding when this technology could become available. They say that the next step is to attain the capacity to produce one million litres of this algae based biodiesel per year.

So far the company has attracted some moderate attention from private investors. They had announced that their prospectus would be available by Christmas time but I've not seen one yet. My request for one has been sent. When I receive it I'll be sure to let you know.