Health officials in Hong Kong have announced confirmation of the country’s first case of H7N9 bird flu.
The announcement is a sign that the deadly virus is spreading beyond the borders of mainland China.
The announcement of the confirmed case comes on the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) that killed 300 people in Hong Kong and seriously damaged the country’s travel and retail industry.
The 36-year-old H7N9 victim reportedly traveled to Shenzhen in mainland China and had contact with poultry during his visit. Officials say the patient is in critical condition in a Hong Kong hospital.
Just a week after Islamic terrorists attacked Tiananmen Square killing two pedestrians and three terrorists, another attack took place on the provincial government headquarters in Taiyuan.
Police say the blasts struck just after 7:40 a.m. local time from what appeared to be “home-made explosive devices” that were filled with ball bearings.
State broadcaster CCTV reported one person was injured and two cars seriously damaged. The bombs were reportedly hidden inside flowerbeds by the roadside.
Police have sealed the area and are restricting access in a manner similar to last week’s closure of Tiananmen Square. Witnesses claimed hearing as many as seven blasts.
Fresh human cases in eastern China of a deadly new strain of bird flu signal the potential for “a new epidemic wave” of the disease in coming winter months, scientists said on Thursday.
The strain, known as H7N9, emerged for the first time in humans earlier this year and killed around 45 of the some 135 people it infected before appearing to peter out in China During the summer.
But a new case in October in a 35-year-old man from China’s eastern Zhejiang province shows that the virus “has re-emerged in winter 2013” and “indicates a possible risk of a larger outbreak of H7N9 this winter,” according to Chinese researchers writing in the online journal Euro surveillance.
Source: FOX News – FOX News: New China H7N9 bird flu cases ‘signal potential winter epidemic’
Smog so thick it reduced visibility to half the length of a football field has essentially shut down the Chinese city of Harbin.
Schools were forced to close and the airport was shut down because of the thick, choking pollution.
State run media agency Xinhua reported that air quality was significantly worse than World Health Organization recommended limits. The PM2.5 level test, which measures particulates in the air smaller than 2.5 micrometeres, was more than 20 times higher than the WHO’s recommended daily concentration.
Earlier this year, air quality in the capital city of Beijing had also soared past dangerous levels, resulting in disruptions to air travel and causing health issues.
In Heilongjiang province, where Harbin is located, officials closed every highway. A red alert for thick smog was issued and remains in effect for the entire area.
A new report on human trafficking and slavery worldwide shows that around 30 million people are enslaved, nearly half of them in India.
The survey by Australian-based group Walk Free said that the found human trafficking in all 162 countries surveyed.
“Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa and South Asia,” the report states. “Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, whether through ‘marriage’, unpaid labour on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked and lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or an education.”
India, where almost 14 million people are enslaved either in bonded labor or commercial sex exploitation, was the clear leader in the statistics. China was second with 2.9 million people in slavery, followed by Pakistan (2.1 million), Nigeria (701,000) and Ethiopia (651,000).
The survey also listed countries based on slavery totals per capita. Moldova, where Stella’s Voice is located, was in the top 6 nations of slaves per capita.
Calling the United States “hypocritical” and “meddling”, China’s official news agency has printed an editorial calling for the world to move on from the United States.
“As U.S. politicians of both political parties are still shuffling back and forth between the White House and the Capitol Hill without striking a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world,” writes the Xinhua News Agency.
The country’s ruling Communist Party controls Xinhua.
The editorial also references the world’s economic problems from the last few years and attributes them to “voracious Wall Street elites.” Xinhua called for a new world order.
“Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated, and a new world order should be put in place, according to which all nations, big or small, poor or rich, can have their key interests respected and protected on an equal footing,” Xinhua wrote.
Chinese media is reporting at least five dead and four confirmed missing in the wake of Typhoon Fitow.
The tropical cyclone struck early Monday with sustained winds of more than 93 m.p.h. Officials said homes were flattened and many villages were completely flooded by the massive rainfall.
More than 4.5 million people were impacted by the floodwater.
Officials in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces say economic losses have already reached $3.4 billion dollars.
State media said shrimp farms and seaweed farms were destroyed by the storm.
“We have basically lost everything this year,” a seaweed farmer told the BBC.
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Hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens fled the coastlines as authorities issued a red alert due to Typhoon Fitow.
The storm, with maximum sustained winds of 93 m.p.h., made landfall around 1:15 a.m. local time Monday. Forecasters predict as much as 8 inches of rain falling in the early morning hours across three provinces along the southwest coast.
At least two port workers are reported missing in Zhejiang province with many homes already destroyed. Power is reportedly out across hundreds of miles.
Over 750,000 residents of the three provinces were forced to evacuate by Chinese police and military.
Guangdong province, which neighbors the province where the storm’s eye made landfall, had 25 people die when Typhoon Usagi struck just weeks ago.
Chinese state run media is reporting that 41 people have been killed in mass hornet attacks since July.
The China News Agency reports more than 1,600 people have been injured by hornet attacks in Shaanxi province. More than 200 are still hospitalized with 37 in critical condition.
Most of the attacks have been attributed to the Asian giant hornet which can grow up to 2 inches long with a stinger ¼ inch long. The hornet’s venom contains a neurotoxin that can lead to renal failure.
Local officials say warmer weather has contributed to a rise in hornet numbers. Environmental activists blame the increase on rapid urbanization intruding into land where hornets build nests and hunt.
Police and firefighters throughout the region have been given special protective gear to remove or destroy hornet nests. Provincial government authorities have brought in Pest control experts.
