Dogs in Jiangmen to be seized and put down to improve sanitation but experts brand plan unscientific and inhumane A southern Chinese city has banned pet dogs, leaving tens of thousands facing a cull unless they can find new homes. Authorities in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, say they are concerned about rabies cases and the general state of the city. But animal lovers have reacted angrily and a disease control expert warned the tactic, which will affect 30,000 animals, is unscientific, inhumane and short-term. Any dogs seen in the Pengjiang, Jianghai and Xinhui districts after 26 August will be seized or killed, city officials say. Guard dogs will be allowed, but only for companies with property worth at least 5m yuan (£474,000). The Jiangmen Daily said officials aimed to “prevent and control rabies, maintain public order and sanitation, and create a sound environment for the people”. The newspaper added that 42 of the city’s 4 million residents had died from rabies in the past three years. “Dogs found with diseases will be euthanised in a humanitarian manner. We will sign agreements with owners before putting down their dogs,” Li Wantong, technology director at an animal disease control centre in Jiangmen, told the Global Times. “We will try to find solutions for healthy ones, as we do not have the capacity to keep a large number.” Some residents back the move, with one complaining to the newspaper: “[Dog] excrement is everywhere in the courtyard and parks, and their barking always disrupts my sleep.” But a poodle owner said: “Banning all pet dogs, taking them away and killing them is a bit too much.” Dog ownership has soared as Chinese incomes have risen over the past few decades and there is growing interest in animal rights , particularly among the middle class. “This [ban] is not scientific, not humane, and it will not last long. In short term, maybe it could be effective, but after that, people still want to keep dogs,” said Dr Tang Qing of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention at China’s Centre for Disease Control. “People won’t accept it and implementing it will be difficult – you can’t break down doors to seize and kill dogs.” He added that a vaccination programme for dogs would be cheaper and more effective. China has the world’s second-highest death toll from rabies after India, with cases rising sharply in the past decade, possibly due to increasing pet ownership and rising healthcare costs. The health ministry says 3,300 people died of the disease in 2007, although the toll fell to 2,466 in 2008 and experts believe the worst may be over. A 2009 ministry report said only a fifth of China’s 75m dogs were vaccinated against the disease. It added that 40 million people a year were bitten by animals . Dr Kati Loeffler, veterinary adviser for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in China, said: “Decades of research internationally have shown culling is absolutely ineffective in controlling rabies – the only way to control it is through mass vaccination. The second reason that [officials] do it is because people are not taking care of their animals … causing nuisance. That requires education.” In several cases tightened dog ownership rules have led people to abandon pets, resulting in a large stray population that potentially causes more problems. Two years ago, Hanzhong in Shaanxi enraged animal lovers by announcing it had culled 36,000 stray and pet dogs. Additional research by Han Cheng China Animal welfare Animals Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Rachel Maddow summed up pretty nicely why we saw the reaction we got from Wall Street to the debt ceiling deal that John Boehner was so pleased with “getting 98%” of what he wanted in finally being passed this week: MADDOW: After the debt ceiling deal got signed, that’s what happened on Wall Street — about twenty little green boxes in a sea of about four hundred and eighty red ones. Everybody’s been talking about how the markets would tank if we didn’t reach a debt ceiling deal. Today we got a debt ceiling deal, and the markets still tanked. And the markets tanked because this debt ceiling deal, just passed today in the Senate and was signed into law by a lonely President Obama, signing the law with nobody standing behind him — this debt ceiling deal is essentially telling an economy that has just been run over by a car that now it needs to lay down in the road again, so we can back up over it and run it over a second time. As Rachel noted here, the Economic Policy Institute reported that all in all, this deal could end up costing Americans 1.8 million jobs — What’s missing from the debt ceiling debate? Jobs : The unemployment rate, currently above 9 percent, is projected to remain high for a long time. For example, the current Blue Chip Economic Indicators consensus forecast puts the average unemployment rate for 2012 at 8.3 percent. The agreement to raise the debt ceiling just announced by policymakers in Washington not only erodes funding for public investments and safety-net spending, but also misses an important opportunity to address the lack of jobs. The spending cuts in 2012 and the failure to continue two key supports to the economy (the payroll tax holiday and emergency unemployment benefits for the long term unemployed) could lead to roughly 1.8 million fewer jobs in 2012, relative to current budget policy. The agreement would reduce spending by at least $1 trillion over 10 years through budget caps on non-mandatory programs, with additional reductions under discussion in a second phase. While the bulk of the cuts are back-loaded – coming more in the future – the near-term cuts would still have an immediate impact. Applying conventional multipliers, the reduction of $30.5 billion in calendar year 2012 would reduce GDP by 0.3%, and result in roughly 323,000 fewer jobs (as depicted in the table below). In addition to the immediate cuts to spending, the debt ceiling agreement fails to continue two major policies which had been part of broad agreements in the past. The payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment insurance were passed last December along with the two-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts; but are set to expire at the end of 2011. While Congress could still extend these policies between now and the end of the year, that scenario is looking much less likely today. (Any economic support subsequent to this deal would have to be offset by other tax increases or spending cuts in 2012 or a further increase in the debt ceiling, neither of which seems politically viable.) And as Sec. Tim Geithner noted, even though our politicians finally raised the debt ceiling and averted a default on our debt, he is not sure if the United States still might be downgraded — Geithner unsure if U.S. debt to be downgraded: report . And as the LA Times reported — Moody’s and Fitch keep U.S. triple-A credit rating, but say outlook is negative . Rachel wrapped up her segment talking about how the administration has said they want to shift their focus to jobs now, apparently counting on some type of good will or cooperation from Republicans in doing so, but as she pointed out, we’ve seen absolutely no evidence that there’s any reason to believe that will happen.
Continue reading …AP Report on ‘Disappointing’ Car Sales Partially Blames Debt-Ceiling Debate
August 3, 2011 No Comment
Did you know that car buyers in July took “worries” over the debt-ceiling debate in Washington into account when they decided to buy — or apparently decided not to buy? Neither did I. But Dee-Ann Durbin and Tom Krisher rolled out that excuse this evening as one factor explaining why July's car sales were “disappointing,” and then appeared to stuff those words into the mouth of the spokesman for General Motors. Sale were indeed “disappointing,” up less than 1% of over July 2010, which was described at the time by CNNMoney.com as “Best Since (Cash for) Clunkers, But Still Weak” (that's the window title; the article title got sanitized later). Here are several paragraphs from the AP pair's report (the excuse and the word-stuffing are in bold): US auto industry uneasy after weak July sales Auto sales rose only slightly in July as skittish consumers pulled back on car buying and threatened to derail the industry's fragile recovery. With the economy weak, popular cars in short supply and dealers offering very few discounts, carmakers endured a third straight month of disappointing sales. Just over 1 million new cars and trucks were sold in the month, up 1 percent from last July and flat with June. Sales started strong this year but have slowed as the economy faltered and Japan's earthquake left Toyota and Honda dealers short of popular models. Unemployment rose to 9.2 percent earlier this summer, the highest level this year, and consumer confidence is shaky. “We're still not back on the track of recovery yet,” said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power and Associates. “There's definitely some weakness kind of looming out there.” Adding to buyers' worries in July was the government debate over the debt ceiling. “Uncertainty, in our business, is always bad for consumers,” GM Vice President of Sales Don Johnson said. … Both Ford and GM have scaled back their annual forecast for the year, saying U.S. sales are likely to be closer to 13 million instead of the 13.5 million they had hoped for. … He said automakers need to accept that the recovery could take longer than they anticipated and shouldn't panic and resort to discounts to sell more cars. The final excerpted sentence made me think of this little clip from “Animal House” — “All is well!” No it's not, and it has nothing to do with the debt ceiling drama which just transpired. Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com .
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Dr Muhammad Sharaf offers medical treatment and support to people injured in the struggle for democracy earlier this year Richard Sprenger Mona Mahmood
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Footage from 1923 melodrama The White Shadow, one of the first films that Hitchcock worked on, identified in New Zealand film archive It’s the kind of unpredictable twist that even the celebrated film-maker might have found surprising: footage from a lost silent movie featuring work by Alfred Hitchcock has been discovered in New Zealand. The White Shadow, from 1923, is a melodrama starring US actor Betty Compson as twin sisters – one good, one evil – and Clive Brook. It was the first film that the 24-year-old Hitchcock worked on. He was writer, assistant director, editor and production designer on the project. Three reels comprising the first 30 minutes of the movie were left at the New Zealand Film Archive in 1989 by the family of a New Zealand projectionist and film collector, but were only recently identified. No one knows where the remaining three reels are and no other copy of the film is thought to exist. “This is him showing how multi-talented he was at a very young age,” Frank Stark, head of the New Zealand archive, told stuff.co.nz . “There were also stories [that] the named director – Graham Cutts – of the film wasn’t the greatest. To a large degree Hitchcock filled in the gaps, even took over you might say. “So this is a really early sign of just how broadly skilled Hitchcock was. Hitchcock was famous, in his later films for having a meticulous control of all the detail, from the acting performance right down to the sets and costumes. I think it’s an early sign of just how precocious he was.” David Sterritt, chairman of the National Society of Film Critics, told the BBC that the discovery was “one of the most significant developments in memory”. “These first three reels offer a priceless opportunity to study his visual and narrative ideas when they were first taking shape,” he said. The prints were sent to the Film Archive by New Zealander Tony Osborne in 1989 following the death of their owner and his grandfather, the projectionist and collector Jack Murtagh. They were originally included with a number of unidentified American nitrate prints and were only recently identified by nitrate expert Leslie Lewis, who works at the archive. “From boyhood, my grandfather was an avid collector – be it films, stamps, coins or whatever,” said Osborne. “He was known, internationally, as having one of the largest collection of cigarette cards and people would travel from all over the world to view his collection. Some would view him as rather eccentric. He would be quietly amused by all the attention now generated by these important film discoveries.” The reels were originally labelled “Twin Sisters”, and it was only due to Lewis’s diligence that they were identified as part of The White Shadow. The archivist noticed the resemblance in style to Hitchcock’s early work and confirmed her suspicions by trawling through contemporary reviews of the movie. The footage is to be preserved at Park Road Post Production in Wellington. The film will be added to the catalogue at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Hitchcock collection in Los Angeles. Alfred Hitchcock New Zealand Ben Child guardian.co.uk
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Some 12,000 tourists will be repatriated after Brighton-based firm offering holidays mainly to Turkish resorts goes into administration Tour operator Holidays 4 UK, which was due to take about 50,000 British holiday-makers to Turkey this summer, has gone bust. About 12,000 customers of the firm are currently abroad and had expected to return on flights arranged by the company, which trades as Holidays 4U and Aegean Flights. It is understood all customers overseas, largely in the cheaper Turkish holiday resorts, can expect to be repatriated by the Civil Aviation Authority under the Atol consumer protection scheme . Travellers yet to take their holiday will also be entitled to compensation under the Atol scheme. The rescue will cost the CAA about £9.5m, of which about £4.5m will be covered by Atol bonds and other security lodged by Holidays 4 UK. It is unusual for a travel business to fail so early in the peak summer season, when cash inflows are traditionally strongest. Holidays 4 UK, which is owned by two Turkish-British families and has been trading from Brighton for 17 years, is now being run by administrators from Pricewaterhouse Coopers. “The company has suffered because of the difficulties faced by the travel industry during 2010 and 2011, as a result of the economic downturn,” said Ian Oakley-Smith, joint administrator and director at PwC. Holidays 4 UK’s failure was triggered by dire trading in May, June and July. The company is believed to have approached the CAA about releasing some security to allow it to continue trading but was rebuffed. Barclaycard, which processed payments for the business, is also believed to have kept a very tight rein on Holidays 4 UK’s funds recently, anticipating a possible collapse. Last year fellow Turkish budget holiday specialist Goldtrail, based in Wimbledon, collapsed in July, also appointing administrators from PwC. This failure provided a temporary boon for Holidays 4 UK. The company had a turnover of about £35m a year and was licensed to carry 100,000 passengers under the Atol scheme. Some 15 staff at the firm’s Brighton office were told of its collapse on Wednesday morning. Travel & leisure Turkey Turkey Simon Bowers guardian.co.uk
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Hosni Mubarak stretchered into Cairo courtroom in first TV appearance since Egypt revolution Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has denied all charges against him as his trial began in Cairo. Lying on a stretcher in standard-issue white prison overalls, behind the bars of the defendants’ cage, the 83-year-old spoke just once to confirm his presence and enter his plea. “I deny all these charges and accusations categorically,” he said. Mubarak stands accused of economic corruption, striking an illegal business deal with Israel, and the unlawful killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising against his reign. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty. The spectacle was aired live on state television, bringing much of the capital to a standstill as Egyptians huddled around TV sets and watched their former leader in the dock. It was the first time Mubarak had appeared on television since 10 February, when he gave a defiant speech to the nation refusing to resign. He fled Cairo the next day. Amid chaotic scenes in the makeshift courthouse, with lawyers shouting over each other to get the judge’s attention and running street battles raging outside between supporters and opponents of the toppled president, the sight of Mubarak lying impassive as a prosecutor read out some of the names of those killed by his security forces is likely to be one of the defining images of this year’s ongoing political unrest in the Arab World. Mubarak’s two sons and co-defendants, Alaa and Gamal – the latter having once been Mubarak’s presumed heir to the presidency – also protested their innocence. Former interior minister Habib el-Adly and six of his senior police deputies are also facing similar charges. “I am delighted that I see them in a cage,” Saeeda Hassan Abdel-Raouf, the mother of a 22-year-old protester who was among those killed in the uprising, told reporters. “I feel that my son’s soul is finally starting to be at rest and that his blood will cool.” Mubarak was ferried from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh by military helicopter earlier this morning, arriving in the courthouse at 10am local time. Despite the judge’s insistence that anybody disrupting proceedings would face an automatic 24-hour prison sentence, the trial regularly descended into confusion as lawyers put forward various technical arguments regarding legal aspects of the case. At one point, a lawyer demanded that Mubarak undergo a DNA test, claiming that the ex-leader actually died in 2004 and had been replaced by an impostor. More seriously, Mubarak’s defence lawyer Farid el-Deeb hinted that Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi – Mubarak’s defence minister and current de facto ruler of the country – may be called as a witness. Tantawi’s army council generals has been running Egypt for the past six months, and is nervous about what may emerge from the current legal proceedings. Mubarak’s trial was adjourned at the end of the session until 15 August while Adly’s will resume on Thursday. The former president will be kept a hospital in Cairo until that date. Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have warned that Mubarak’s prosecution must be conducted fairly. “This trial presents a historic opportunity for Egypt to hold a former leader and his inner-circle to account for crimes committed during their rule,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty director for the Middle East and North Africa. “But if the trial is going to be a meaningful break with Egypt’s record of impunity, it must be both fair and transparent – justice demands no less. Not only must the trial be fair but it must be seen to be fair, not least by the families of those who died during the protests.” Although the first day was dominated by legal wrangling, it soon became clear that those expecting a swift verdict would be disappointed. Mubarak’s prosecution file is believed to run to over 12,000 pages, and his defence announced plans to call more than 1,000 witnesses. It appears likely that the case will be adjourned, possibly until next month. Outside the police academy where the court is being held, thousands of soldiers and riot police failed to prevent groups of rival demonstrators from clashing. Mubarak supporters hurled rocks at police, media and a giant screen broadcasting the trial, chanting ‘We will demolish and burn the prison if they convict Mubarak’. Fifty-three people were reported injured in the skirmishes. Hosni Mubarak Egypt Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
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Luke March resigns as Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s compliance officer after apparent clash over transparency guidelines Parliament’s troubled expenses watchdog suffered a fresh blow on Wednesday when a senior official resigned after an apparent clash over transparency guidelines. Luke March resigned as the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s (Ipsa) compliance officer a week after he declined to name MPs facing investigations over their expenses. His resignation followed an interview with the Press Association last week in which he said it would be “unfair” to identify MPs before any allegations are proved. He indicated that there should be no publicity if they are cleared, though wrongdoers would be identified. March’s resignation appears to follow a debate within Ipsa over the guidelines to the 2009 Parliamentary Standards Act, which set up the body . These said that there would be an assumption that details of a full investigation would be published, though this would be at the discretion the compliance officer. In a letter to Sir Ian Kennedy, the Ipsa chair, March wrote: “Thank you for your time earlier today. As I explained during our conversation, after much thought and with a good deal of regret, I have come to the conclusion that the role of compliance officer for Ipsa is not the right role for me. On that basis, I have decided that the sensible thing for me to do is to resign the post. “So please accept this letter as formal notification of my resignation from the post effective from today. May I wish you and the other board members the very best in taking Ipsa forward.” Kennedy replied: “Thank you for your letter of 27 July and for notice of your resignation from the post of compliance officer. I accept, with regret, and understand your conclusion that the role is not the right one for you. I know you did not reach this conclusion lightly or hastily. I should like to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts over recent months and to wish you well for the future.” Martyn Taylor is to serve as interim compliance officer for an initial period of six months. Kennedy told MPs earlier this year that preliminary investigations had been launched into the expenses of 40 MPs since the general election. It had been assumed that their details would be published. But March, who succeeded the interim compliance officer Alan Lockwood in June, told the Press Association he would be publishing details until wrongdoing was proven. “The reason why I am not [publishing] now is that we are doing this all for the first time,” he said. “One of the things that makes me nervous is the lack of proportionality. Compared to the previous world some of the things we are looking at are relatively small. “But the system does not make any distinction between major problems and trivial mistakes. Quite a lot of these cases I am referring to have resulted in immediate resolution.” March said that some of the allegations were related to mistakes by Ipsa. “I wanted to be fair to all sides,” he said. ‘”With an MP their reputation is important. I am meeting MPs every week and it is like walking on thin ice. “They are terrified that I might have the wrong idea about a particular fact, even if it is just about a small claim. I do not feel confident with the information that I have got at the moment. I would be very concerned about publishing allegations against MPs which may not be true. I want to be absolutely certain before I publish anything that I have got the facts.” MPs’ expenses House of Commons Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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The plant, set up to supply fuel for nuclear, will be shut as a consequence of Fukushima, with the loss of about 600 jobs The MOX fuel plant at Sellafield will be closed on Wednesay afternoon, with the loss of about 600 jobs. The closure is a consequence of the Fukushima incident in Japan , in March. Workers at the plant were told on Wednesday morning that there was “considerable scope” for them to be re-employed in other parts of the Sellafield complex. It will take several months for the plant to close fully. The West Cumbrian mixed-oxide fuel plant has cost the taxpayer £1.4bn since it was commissioned in the early 1990s. The plant, operated by the government-owned Nuclear Decomissioning Authority , was set up to create mixed-oxide fuel for use in nuclear power plants, with its chief customers the Japanese nuclear industry, including the Fukushima complex. The plant was built in 1996 and became operational in 2001. NDA denied there were any repercussions for the troubled Thorp reprocessing plant , although Thorp is also involved in generating MOX fuel, which is made from plutonium and uranium. The announcement will officially be made public at 2.30pm on Wednesday afternoon. Nuclear power Energy Energy industry Japan disaster Japan Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk
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The City had been using £1.4bn a starting point for any bidders for Northern Rock, but this has now fallen to £1.1bn Ron Sandler, chairman of Northern Rock, insisted taxpayers would eventually be “well rewarded” for bailing out the Newscastle lender even if the current sales process fails to achieve a £1.4bn price tag for the nationalised lender. The taxpayer lent Northern Rock £27bn in the “dark days” of the 2008 banking crisis, when Sandler was parachuted in by the government as it was nationalised . It has since been split into two: Northern Rock plc which is now up for sale; and Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM) , the “bad” bank that holds the bulk of the taxpayer loan. Some £1.4bn of the total £27bn loan was used to support Northern Rock plc, and turned into equity after the split last year, and its first half figures published on Wednesday show that this has now fallen in value to £1.1bn. The City had been using £1.4bn a starting point for any bidders but Sandler stressed that the price fetched from the sale could not be looked at in isolation in assessing returns to the taxpayer and that the repayment of the rest of loan by NRAM needed to be considered. “If I’m a taxpayer and I’m asking the question ‘was the support appropriately rewarded’, it is the bigger question I would ask you to focus on,” Sandler said. “I am confident the taxpayer will be well rewarded,” he added. The deadline for bids was last week and Sandler refused to identify the potential buyers and stressed that there was no timetable in place to complete a deal. “I am pleased with the level of interest that has been received,” Sandler said. He also said that while a sale was being pursued, other options – a flotation or remutualisation – had not been ruled out. For the first time, he has set a target for a return to profitability in the second half of 2012 – some four years after it was nationalised – as the lender reported a loss of £78.8m in the first six months of 2011. This was in line with expectations and “significantly reduced” on the loss of £140m in the first half of 2010. The bank was allowed to resume lending last year but its mortgage book has grown only slowly from £12.2bn at the end of 2010 to £12.5bn at the end of June. Gross mortgage lending in the first half of 2011 was £1.5bn, including mortgage retention business of £0.3bn. “The lending profile has been managed for value rather than volume, which resulted in a reduction in completions in the first half compared with the same period in 2010,” Northern Rock said. The number of arrears cases has continued to gradually increase over the first half of the year but remains below the industry average. In March, Northern Rock announced 680 job cuts . Half of those affected have left, with the rest expected to go in the remaining part of the year. More jobs could be lost, Sandler admitted. UK Asset Resolution – the “bad” part of Northern Rock that has been merged with the Bradford & Bingley mortgage book that was nationalised in September 2008 – has already returned to profit. Last week it reported an increase in profits to £344m in the first six months of 2011 . The Unite union said Northern Rock had shed thousands of workers since it was brought to the brink of collapse by the financial crisis. “The reality behind these results is that over the last four years the staff who in no way brought the bank to near collapse, have paid with changes to their pensions and the loss of over 3,000 colleagues. Yet the greedy management under Adam Applegarth [the former chief executive] have sailed away in their multi-million pound yachts,” said Brian Cole, Unite officer. “It should be recognised that while Northern Rock made a loss, NRAM which split from the bank, has paid £2.1bn in the last 18 months, and has made a pre-tax profit of £344m for the first half of this year. Unite continues to question the rationale behind the split of the Northern Rock business,” he added. Northern Rock Banking Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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