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India has with withdrawn Maggi noodles from shops and markets after tests showed the product contained high levels of lead and flavour enhancer, monosodium glutamate.
India’s Federal Food Safety Authority reportedly ordered all states to conduct tests on the Maggi brand noodles.
Food Minister Ram Paswan said,
"If the contents are found to be injurious to health, then we will definitely take action"
Reports say Maggi Noddles has been at the centre of a controversy after tests in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh last month found the noodles to have higher than permissible levels of lead and Monosodium Glutamate (MSG).
Sales of the product manufactured by the Indian subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestle SA has reportedly plummeted over the past few days.
Nestle has however denied that the noodles are unsafe or unhealthy even as a company spokesman said no MSG was added to noodles sold in India, but the product glutamate occurred naturally in other ingredients used.
In a related development, a court in the eastern state of Bihar also ordered that a complaint be filed against Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit for endorsing the brand.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
South Korea struggled to contain an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome on Monday as health authorities announced three more cases, bringing the number of infections to 18 in just over 10 days.
Authorities are considering a ban on overseas travel for the nearly 700 people isolated for possible infection after a 44-year-old man broke a voluntary house quarantine last week and flew to Hong Kong and then travelled to mainland China.
The man subsequently tested positive for MERS, China's first confirmed case, setting off alarm bells as health officials traced his footsteps and tested dozens of people who had been in close contact with him.
South Korea's Health Ministry confirmed three more cases on Monday, but declined to identify the location of any of the cases.
All 18 cases have been linked to a 68-year-old man – who returned from Bahrain via Qatar on May 20 – who were either patients or visitors to the hospital where he was being treated.
First identified in humans in 2012, MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered China's deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). There is no cure or vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) put the total number of cases globally at 1,150 with at least 427 related deaths.
It said last week there had been no sustained human-to-human spread and that it was not recommending screening of passengers or that travel or trade restrictions be imposed on South Korea.
In South Korea, one elderly patient who had a history of kidney ailment was in a serious condition, with weak vital signs requiring him to be on cardiac and respiratory support, the head of the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, Kim Woo-joo, told a briefing.
"I've been asking myself whether there may be a genetic factor, if anything makes (Koreans) more vulnerable, but so far there's no evidence," said Kim, who is advising the Health Ministry on the outbreak.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control put South Korea's 18 cases the fourth highest number of confirmed cases, after Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Public health authorities faced more criticism on Monday for failing to contain the spread of the virus after the initial case whose symptoms were first overlooked.
"We must find the reason for the high rate of transmission unlike in the cases of other countries," President Park Geun-hye told a meeting on Monday.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
* HSBC flash PMI signals persistent weakness in economy
* Reinforces expectations of fresh policy stimulus
* Output sub-index at 13-month low
* New export orders at 23-month low
* Premier Li says 7 pct growth target achievable (Repeats to remove text of earlier story; adds Premier Li comment, analyst quotes)
By Kevin Yao
BEIJING, May 21 (Reuters) – Chinese factory activity contracted for a third month in May and output shrank at the fastest rate in just over a year, a private survey showed, indicating persistent weakness in the world's second-largest economy that requires increased policy support.
The poor reading, which followed a raft of downbeat April data, reinforced analysts' views that Beijing has to take bolder steps to combat a protracted slowdown, as growth threatens to drop below 7 percent for the first time since the global financial crisis.
"The subdued flash PMI print suggests there is no clear sign of near-term stabilisation in the economy. Risks to the outlook remain to the downside," Barclays economist Shengzu Wang said in a research note.
The preliminary HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.1 in May, below the 50-point level that separates growth in activity from a contraction on a monthly basis.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 49.3, slightly stronger than April's final reading 48.9.
After a brief rebound in February, the index has now been back in negative territory for three consecutive months.
"Softer client demand, both at home and abroad, along with further job cuts indicate that the sector may find it difficult to expand, at least in the near-term, as companies tempered production plans in line with weaker demand conditions," said Annabel Fiddes, an economist at Markit.
"On a positive note, deflationary pressures remained relatively strong, with both input and output prices continuing to decline, leaving plenty of scope for the authorities to implement further stimulus measures if required."
The latest survey showed China's factories continue to struggle with sluggish demand at home and abroad.
The sub-index on new export orders fell to a 23-month low of 46.8 in May, while overall new orders shrank for the third straight month, albeit at a slower pace.
The output sub-index contracted for the first time this year, to a 13-month low of 48.4, while the employment sub-index showed manufacturers shed jobs for the 19th month in a row.
The central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates further in coming months, on top of three reductions since November, and is also likely to lower banks' reserve requirements again to reduce companies' borrowing costs and encourage more lending.
The government is stepping up fiscal spending, with a strong focus on infrastructure projects. China has approved 250 billion yuan ($40.30 billion) of railway and subway projects so far this year, the country's top economic planner said on Monday.
Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics said the PMI painted a mixed picture, with domestic demand possibly showing signs of stabilising in response to earlier policy easing but still under pressure from a weak property market. Exports, meanwhile, have been hurt by the yuan's rapid trade-weighted appreciation.
WHEN WILL STIMULUS KICK IN?
China's economic growth slowed to a six-year-low of 7 percent in the first quarter, weighed down by the cooling property sector and softening demand, which is leaving more and more factory capacity standing idle and depressing companies' profits.
Recent data showed a further loss of momentum heading into the second quarter, with investment growth in January-April falling to its lowest in nearly 15 years.
Most analysts have already penciled in sub-7 percent growth for the second quarter, raising the risk that the government will not meet its full-year growth target of around 7 percent.
State Information Centre, a top government think-tank, has predicted second-quarter growth of 6.8 percent.
But signs that the government is ratcheting up its policy support for the economy have fanned optimism that growth could bottom out in the second half, though few analysts expect a solid recovery.
"We expect economic growth to gradually stabilise as the government is determined to safeguard its growth target, but policy measures are still not strong enough," said Xu Gao, chief economist at Everbright Securities in Beijing.
The official news agency Xinhua on Thursday quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying he was confident China has the ability to meet the 2015 target. (Editing by Kim Coghill)
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN)Five people were killed in an attack at a hotel in Afghanistan's capital that left guests trapped inside as gunfire erupted, police said.
A U.S. citizen was among the dead, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Monica L. Cummings said. On Twitter, India's ambassador to Afghanistan said citizens of his country were among the casualties.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the group said in a statement.
The siege began when gunmen stormed the Park Palace Guest House hotel in Kabul at about 8 p.m. Wednesday (11:30 a.m. ET).
It ended more than five hours later, Kabul Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said, after Afghan special forces killed the three armed assailants behind the attack.
Security forces rescued more than 50 people from the hotel, including trapped guests, the police chief said. Of the dozens rescued, at least five people were wounded, Rahimi said.
The identities of the victims have not been released.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
(CNN)Search teams scouring the floor of the Indian Ocean for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have come across some wreckage — just considerably older than the airliner which disappeared in March 2014.
Startlingly clear images of a previously uncharted wreck, most likely from the 19th century, emerged after underwater drones were dispatched to investigate the potential lead.
Search vessel Fugro Equator's deep tow system "detected a cluster of small sonar contacts" of potential interest near the so-called 7th arc before another Fugro ship was dispatched to take a closer look, resulting in the images, according to Australian authorities.
An anchor, as well as parts of a destroyed hull, can clearly be seen in the photos. The wreck lies at a depth of 3,900 meters (12,795 ft).
"We were cautious about this," said Peter Foley, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's (ATSB) Director of the Operational Search for MH370.
"There were characteristics of the contact that made it unlikely to be MH370, but there were also aspects that generated interest, multiple small bright reflections in a relatively small area of otherwise featureless seabed."
Hard to identify
Western Australian Maritime Museum curator Michael McCarthy told Australia's ABC network that there are "hundreds" of such ships that would have gone down in the oceans over the centuries, and that it was potentially difficult to identify the wreck.
"The best we can do at the moment is a mid-to late 19th century wooden hull, iron sailing ship and of unknown origin but of European-style build," he said.
"There are hundreds of ships lost in our world's oceans over time, through old age, cyclones, typhoons and one would expect this to occur."
The ATSB's Foley says he is "disappointed" that the sonar data didn't return more positive results directly relating to the search, but says the operation must continue.
The Fugro teams have moved on from the location but will transmit their findings to marine archeologists in the hope of identifying the wreck.
Australian officials have said previously that the search of the current priority zone where they believe Flight 370 went down is expected to be completed this month. If no trace is found in that 60,000-square-kilometer area, the search will be expanded to include a new zone of the same size, the governments of Malaysia, Australia and China announced last month.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
(CNN)At least 67 people were killed after a fire engulfed a footwear factory in the northern Philippines, authorities said Thursday.
The blaze swept through a slipper and shoe factory in Valenzuela City on Wednesday, Mayor Rex Gatchalian told reporters at a news conference.
Retrieval operations are still underway at the site, and fire officials have said they expect to find more bodies when they reach the building's second floor, which they have warned could collapse.
Five people pulled alive from the burning factory on Wednesday were taken to local hospitals. Authorities said late Wednesday that the total number of survivors was still unclear.
The blaze started before noon Wednesday, and fire officials declared it under control by late afternoon, authorities said.
The city government said the fire was believed to have been caused by sparks from welding work on the factory's gate setting alight chemicals in nearby containers.
The flames spread in seconds, witnesses said.
"We tried to put the fire out by pouring water and using the fire extinguisher but it was difficult already," Steve Chua, a worker in the factory, told police, according to CNN Philippines.
Thick black smoke from the highly combustible materials made it hard for the firefighters to put out the fire and look for survivors.
Gatchalian said the facility was owned by the Kentex Manufacturing Corp.
Valenzuela City is part of the densely populated metropolitan region around the Philippine capital, Manila.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
2 weeks after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, killing over 8,000 people, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake has struck the country again, this time hitting a town close to Mount Everest.
Reports say the latest earthquake hit near the town of Namche Bazar, near Mount Everest.
According to BBC, the latest tremor was felt as far away as the Indian capital Delhi, as well as Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Also, strong tremors were felt in the Nepal capital, Kathmandu, which was badly damaged in last month's earthquake.
The quake reportedly struck at 12:35 local time (07:50 GMT) urging people to rush from buildings in Kathmandu.
The US Geological Survey reports that the epicentre of the latest earthquake was 83km east of Kathmandu, in a rural area close to the Chinese border, while the quake struck at a depth of 18.5km.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
2 people have died and at least 1,680 people had been evacuated from risk areas in Cagayan alone after the powerful Typhoon Noul hit the north-east Philippines region.
The deceased were electrocuted on Sunday while fixing the roof of their house in Aparri town.
Authorities have however said they do not expect high casualty numbers as most people had followed evacuation orders.
The storm reportedly cut electricity supplies to many parts of the region, and also downed trees and damaged houses.
According to BBC, the storm, with wind speeds of 220km/h is expected to move towards Taiwan and Japan on Tuesday, even as warnings of flash floods, landslides and storm surges has forced at least 2,500 people to flee their homes to find safer grounds in the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela.
Meanwhile, relief supplies were moved in to place in preparation for the storm, while flights and sea crossings were cancelled leaving more than 5,000 passengers and some 100 vessels stranded along the eastern coastline.
Noul is the strongest storm to hit the Philippines so far this year, while in 2013, 7000 people were killed when Typhoon Haiyan struck.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Afghanistan forces have launched a major fight against Islamist militant group, Taliban in a battle for the north-eastern provincial capital of Kunduz.
The fight reportedly includes the Afghan army and police, but there is no substantial help from foreign troops. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces have also reportedly turned down several requests to assist with air strikes.
In the same vein, provincial governor Mohammed Omer Safi has said the Afghan forces do not have enough air power and their helicopters lacked the armaments they should have.
BBC reports that the Taliban have come close to the city in recent fighting, leaving it cut off with tens of thousands of displaced.
Reports from Afghan officials say foreign jihadists trained by the Islamic State (IS) group are fighting alongside the Taliban.
Security forces and Taliban have reportedly been involved in a standoff for about a week after the insurgents launched an offensive on Kunduz at the end of April.
According to BBC correspondent, David Loyn, this fight is the first positive confirmation by a senior government official that ISIS are operating alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, as prior to this point, ISIS fighters have often clashed with the Taliban especially in the south of the country.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 18 foreign fighters, including 2 women, were found after recent fighting.
The fight has also displaced many people across the city and rural areas of the province of Kunduz.
Also being a region that supplies half of Afghanistan's rice crop, Governor Safi has said that if the fighting goes on in Kunduz, it could have a far-reaching impact beyond the lives affected in only that region.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
KATMANDU, Nepal — A growing sense of despair spread through Katmandu on Sunday as the devastated Nepali capital was convulsed by aftershocks that sent residents screaming into the streets, where they were pelted by heavy rain.
A day after an earthquake killed more than 2,400 people and injured about 5,900, residents grew frantic and the government, entirely overwhelmed by the enormousness of the challenge facing the country, struggled to provide relief, or much hope.
Streets in parts of this city of about 1.2 million were impassable, not so much from quake damage but because tens of thousands of people have taken up residence there. It was a strategy endorsed by the government.
The already difficult situation in much of the capital, where safe shelters are scarce, was made worse Sunday when rains began to pour down on huddled masses.
It is increasingly evident that authorities here were ill-equipped to rescue those trapped and would have trouble maintaining adequate supplies of water, electricity and food.
“In my neighborhood, the police are conspicuous by their absence,” said Sridhar Khatri of the South Asia Center for Policy Studies in Katmandu. “There is not even a show of force to deter vandalism, which some reports say is on the rise.”
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On Sunday, the government began setting up 16 relief stations across Katmandu and the rest of the country while rescue operations continued. The relief stations are expected to ease distribution of water, food and medicine, said Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, a spokesman at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Electricity has been intermittent at best in Katmandu, and absent entirely in other parts of Nepal, but that is not wholly unusual in a country where nighttime blackouts are routine.
Many hotels, commercial buildings and wealthy homes in the capital have their own generators. But nearly all of the country’s gas and diesel supplies are brought in from India, and with traffic reduced to a crawl along major highways, those supplies could dwindle quickly. Some gas stations in Katmandu have already run dry; others are rationing their remaining supplies.
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Thousands of Katmandu’s residents squatted on streets throughout the city, either because their homes had been destroyed or because continued aftershocks, including one of magnitude 6.7, left them too afraid to go back inside. Other residents were camping out in schools, school playgrounds and government offices.
The government announced that schools would remain closed for at least five days, and it pleaded with government workers to help in local rescue efforts in place of their usual jobs.
Stephen Groves, who lives in Katmandu, said he had been inspecting a building for cracks shortly after noon on Sunday when the biggest of many aftershocks hit, leading to terrified screams from those nearby.
“The whole time I was thinking if the building next to me was going to come down on top of me,” Mr. Groves said in an email. “People here are in a panic, and every aftershock contributes to that. They are not going indoors, they are staying in the roads and in open areas. Many are searching for family members.”
Mr. Groves said he had gone to a hospital in the capital on Saturday, where hordes of people were lying on the ground outside the building, many with intravenous drips hooked up to their arms and shocked looks on their faces.
The city was awash with rumors that the worst aftershocks were yet to come and with fears of greater destruction in the countryside, large swaths of which remained unreachable by phone.
Subhash Ghimire, the editor in chief of the Nepalese newspaper República, said he managed to reach his father in his village, home to about 3,000 people, near the epicenter in the Gorkha district. “He said not a single house is left in our village, including our own house,” Mr. Ghimire said.
On Mount Everest, helicopter rescue operations began Sunday morning to take wounded climbers off the mountain, where at least 18 climbers were killed and 41 others injured, making the earthquake the deadliest event in the mountain’s history. Three Americans were among those killed, according to the State Department.
Aftershocks and small avalanches throughout the day Sunday continued to plague the nearly 800 people staying at the mountain base camp and at higher elevation camps.
After posting on Twitter that he was “fairly safe but stuck” at the base camp, a climber, Jim Davidson, then provided a more alarming update from Camp 1, which is above the base camp.
Nick Talbot, 39, was attempting to be the first person with cystic fibrosis to climb Mount Everest when a 100- to 200-yard wall of ice and snow came barreling toward him.
“I ran away,” he said in an interview. “I thought, ‘There is no chance I can get away.’ I just had my socks on. It knocked me into the rocks. I got up and it knocked me over again.” he said. He was evacuated by helicopter Sunday afternoon. He returned without anything but the clothes he was wearing. All of his belongings were buried by the avalanche.
“I’m sure there will have been many fatalities just because the scale of it,” he said.
Tulasi Prasad Gautam, director general of Nepal’s Tourism Department, said he feared that continued aftershocks had trapped more climbers. In addition to the dead and injured, nearly 25 climbers who had been en route Saturday to Camp 2 from Camp 1 are missing.
“Actually, the tents are still there for some 20 to 25 climbers who were heading towards Camp 2 in the course of climbing practice, but they are not in contact,” Mr. Gautam said.
In a blog post Sunday, Eric Simonson of International Mountain Guides said the news from the Everest base camp “was quite bleak,” and that the company’s encampment “has been turned into a triage center, and our big dining tents are now being used as hospital tents.”
“The tons and tons of falling ice going this vertical distance created a huge aerosol avalanche and accompanying air blast,” he wrote. “It is worth noting that over many expeditions we have never seen an avalanche from this area that was even remotely of this scale.”
Susan Parker-Burns, a spokeswoman from the United States Embassy in Nepal, said Sunday in an email that a rescue and relief team from the United States Agency for International Development was sent by military transport to Nepal, and that it would arrive on Monday.
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Also Sunday, the Israeli military said that it was preparing to send two Boeing 747s carrying 260 aid workers and more than 90 tons of cargo to Katmandu. About 600 Israelis are believed to be in Nepal, a popular destination for young backpackers after their compulsory military service. Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical response organization, had already sent an advance team of 10 paramedics and two doctors to Nepal.
Nepal will most likely require significant help. The country’s existing political discord is likely to hamper rescue and rebuilding efforts. The government has been barely functional for more than a decade, with politicians of just about every stripe fighting over the scraps of the increasingly desperate economy. A 10-year civil war between Maoist parties and the government ended in 2006, but the resulting Constituent Assembly spent four years trying to write a constitution without success. Paralysis ensued until elections in November 2013 led to the unexpected rout of the previously dominant Maoists.
Nepal’s people had already become exhausted with the political paralysis, but those feelings could turn explosive if relief and rescue efforts fail in the coming weeks, analysts said. The fear of just such an outcome could spur an intense international relief effort, as an odd collection of countries — including China, India and the United States — were already cooperating on pushing Nepal’s politicians toward compromise.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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