Lost in Spades

July 19, 2012 – MEXICO SENASICA’s report, with information updated on 16 July, indicates that the 82 poultry farms which do not have the presence of exotic viruses have been issued an official certificate to allow them to move their products to market, since they do not represent a risk to poultry or consumers. The farms that have confirmed the H7N3 avian influenza virus remain under quarantine and isolation, in order to control movement and prevent live birds, waste and litter from moving to virus-free regions. SENASICA will keep the Emergency Plan in place on commercial farms and backyard poultry in the Los Altos region of Jalisco state, mainly in the towns of Acatic and Tepatitlan, with a flock of 16.5 million birds, primarily egg layers, of which 9.3 million are found within the surveillance area. It has also expanded the scope of review into areas adjacent to the initial quarantine area in order to protect the birds in the buffer zone. As a method of control and eradication o...

New post on The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond July 19, 2012 – MIDDLE EAST Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp., the state company developing nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates, has begun construction of the first facility and will start the second in 2013. Safety concrete for the first unit was poured yesterday at the site in Barakah in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region, Emirates Nuclear said today in a statement. Emirates Nuclear will apply for an operating license for the first unit in 2015 and will pour concrete for the second unit in 2013, it said. The first of the four 1,400 megawatt plants will be ready in 2017, with each additional unit becoming operational every year through 2020, according to the statement. The U.A.E. is aiming to be the first Gulf Arab nation to develop nuclear power. Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEP) (KEP) was awarded the contract to build the plants in 2009. –Business Week The Extinction Protocol | July 19, 2012 at 1:59 pm

July 19, 2012 – JAPAN Japan's nuclear safety watchdog on Wednesday ordered a probe into claims the country's only working nuclear power station sits on an active tectonic fault. The order came as Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) readied to refire a second reactor at the Oi plant, western Japan, just weeks after the first unit was restarted, ending a brief nuclear-free period in earthquake-prone Japan. A spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said KEPCO had to re-examine the Earth's crust underneath Oi, while the operator of the Shika plant in nearby Ishikawa also had to carry out further studies. The decision came after geological experts argued both plants are likely sitting on active faults and could be vulnerable to earthquakes if tectonic plates shift. Japan's entire stable of nuclear reactors was shut down in the months after the disaster at Fukushima when an earthquake-sparked tsunami knocked out cooling systems causing meltdowns that spread...

BEIJING — The Chinese province of Hunan urged parents on Sunday to seek immediate treatment for children showing symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease after official figures showed 112 people died from the illness last month. The disease, which children are especially vulnerable to, also infected more than 381,000 people, the Ministry of Health reported last week. “The disease incidence rate in June was much higher than that of last June, which has much to do with the high temperatures this summer,” said Liu Fuqiang with the provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The province urged parents and teachers to send children to hospital as soon as they showed symptoms of the disease, including mouth sores, skin rashes or fever. In June, 34,768 cases were reported and 17 people died from the disease in Hunan, the statement said. According to the Ministry of Health, over 460,000 people were infected by the disease in May, leading to 132 deaths. In recent days, health de...

New post on The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond: LONDON - Fabian Kessl, an academic visitor from the Department of Social Work, believes the riots are symbolic of a change that is occurring within society and unless the problems are addressed, it is only a matter of time before further riots occur. Professor Kessl explains: “As long as the politics in England go in the same direction as we have experienced in the last years: disrespecting people's everyday needs, demolishing the idea of the public and strengthening the consumer capitalism - the pre-conditions for a new political revolt are furthermore given. It's just the question of another “trigger’ like the death of Mark Duggan on the 4th of August last year.” Professor Kessl is undertaking a study into the 2011 riots, analyzing the perspectives of those working in the public services following an observation that those working in youth services or youth work did not offer public commentary following the riots. His r...

“When you throw money into the system at a rate much in excess of the requirements of the real economy, you’re trying to get people to borrow and spend, but the good guys out there won’t because they’re too cautious. It’s the bad guys who come in, the malefactors." Roger Nightingale, economist and strategist at RND Associates, on CNBC Monday 16 July 2012

Behind China's Rare Earth Controversy