Daily Archives: February 15, 2022

The US Department of Agriculture said Monday it had detected bird flu in two more farms after a first case came to light last week, putting the industry on guard.

After having already detected the virus in wild birds on several occasions on the east coast in recent weeks, the department said on February 9 it had found the disease in birds on a farm in Indiana.

On Monday it reported that two more farms had been affected, in Kentucky and Virginia.

The authorities have placed the sites in quarantine and the birds will be slaughtered to avoid possible spread throughout the country, which according to the USDA is the largest producer of poultry in the world.

No cases have been detected in humans so far and the disease does not present an immediate public health threat, authorities said.

But the agricultural sector will remain vigilant to avoid a repeat of the 2015 avian flu outbreak, which affected 211 farms in 15 states, from California to Indiana.

During that flare-up, nearly 50 million birds were killed and their carcasses destroyed, and several countries suspended US imports. The department put total losses at about $3.3 billion.

After the first case was discovered in Indiana last week, Mexico and China moved quickly to limit imports from that state.

A spokesman for the National Chicken Council said in an email to AFP that any detection of the virus was worrying but said the control and monitoring program put in place by the authorities is the most robust in the world.

Tyson Foods, one of the largest chicken producers in the United States, said when it released its results on February 7 that it had already increased preventative measures, in particular on the east coast of the United States.

The group has limited the number of visits to its farms and increased cleaning time for vehicles traveling to them.

Europe is already experiencing an avian flu outbreak, with more than 18 million birds slaughtered in Italy and around three million in France since the first cases detected in farms at the end of November.

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US farms on alert as several cases of bird flu found - Macau Business

Another relative of a teenage girl thought to have been murdered in Italy last year by her Pakistani family was arrested Monday in Spain, Spanish and Italian police said.

Spanish police arrested a cousin of 18-year-old Saman Abbas at an apartment near Barcelona in a joint operation carried out with Italian police, a spokesman for Spains National Police said.

He was detained this morning, he said.

Italian police identified him as 34-year-old Nomanulhaq Nomanulhaq, who is suspected of being jointly responsible for the kidnapping, murder and concealment of the body of Abbas.

Another cousin and the young womans uncle were both arrested in France and extradited to Italy last year over her death, while Samans parents are still fugitives in Pakistan.

The case has sparked outrage in Italy and has become front page news since police began investigating the teenagers disappearance in May. Her body has yet to be found.

Abbas, who lived in the northern Italian town of Novellara, in 2020 refused her familys plan to have her marry a cousin in their home country of Pakistan.

While still a minor, she turned to social services and in November 2020 was moved into a shelter home. She also reported her parents to police, but in April 2021 returned to them.

Police began searching for her on May 5, when officers visited her house and found nobody.

Officers then discovered that the girls parents had left for Pakistan without her, and found images from a nearby security camera that made them fear the worst.

Late on April 29, five people could be seen walking off from the house holding shovels, a crowbar and a bucket, and returning after about two-and-a-half hours.

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Spain arrests cousin over teen's disappearance in Italy - Macau Business

Boeing announced Monday that it achieved an annual record for e-commerce parts sales in 2021 with more than 2 billion U.S. dollars in online orders.

Boeing Distribution Inc. (formerly Aviall) sold nearly 70,000 parts products through its e-commerce site to commercial and government customers, eclipsing pre-pandemic levels. Commercial orders accounted for 1.5 billion dollars in sales, reflecting the continued recovery in the airline industry, the company said.

Boeing Distribution Inc.s online revenue last year was 15 percent higher compared to pre-pandemic levels, while orders were 20 percent higher. The stronger sales came as the company rolled out new tools to improve the customer experience, including a new homepage, a live chat feature, and an online knowledge center, according to the announcement.

The refreshed e-commerce parts website, which features over 500,000 products, saw 5 million visits from 50 countries last year.

Our 2 billion U.S. dollars closeout to 2021 was a great capstone as the market heads to a more stable recovery, said Ted Colbert, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Global Services. Our e-commerce capabilities are a great example of the digital solutions we provide to enable industry recovery and growth.

In addition to launching new digital tools, we are creating a more streamlined process for our customers by realigning strategy, program, and product line management with supply chain and customer support, said William Ampofo, vice president of Parts, Distribution Services, and Supply Chain at Boeing Global Services.

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Boeing reaches annual record of 2 bln USD e-commerce sales - Macau Business

After seeing sales of medical masks soar during the Covid-19 pandemic, US manufacturer 3M warned Monday that demand is expected to slow sharply this year.

The warning echoes that of other companies like vaccine-maker Pfizer and the CVS drugstore chain that have said pandemic-related sales are likely to soften.

After Covid-19 broke out in 2020, 3M, a conglomerate that makes a wide range of products from Post-it notes to air filters, quickly ramped up output of face masks, which became ubiquitous.

But in its quarterly earnings report Monday, 3M forecast a decline in Covid-related respirator demand which it said will weigh on overall sales growth and also dampen earnings.

Honeywell in early February said it sold fewer masks in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2020, and sees the slowdown continuing this year, hitting the companys overall sales.

Pfizer, whose vaccine developed with German company BioNTech was the first approved in the United States to counter the deadly virus, warned last week that sales of the jabs would slow in 2022.

But the US pharmaceutical group expects to see sales of its Covid-19 treatment pill to jump to at least $22 billion.

Meanwhile, CVS, which conducted 32 million Covid tests and administered more than 59 million vaccines in 2021, said last week it is expecting vaccinations to drop by 70 to 80 percent and testing to fall by as much as 50 percent.

CVS Chief financial officer Shawn Guertin told analysts the chain should see a modest uptick in sales of over-the-counter test kits.

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3M expects to sell fewer Covid-19 masks this year - Macau Business

Francesco Friedrich was on course to retain his two-man bobsleigh Olympic title and add to his impressive collection of victories this winter as the German took a slender overnight lead after Mondays heats.

Friedrich set a new course record in the opening heat on his way to clocking a fastest combined time of 1min 58.38sec for Mondays two heats in Yanqing, north of Beijing.

However, his overnight lead is just 0.15sec after German team-mate Johannes Lochner was fastest on the second run.

Friedrich remains the favourite having won 14 of his 16 World Cup races this winter.

He (Friedrich) wins everything, right? So obviously people would consider him the one to beat, Canadian pilot Justin Krips, who sits tenth, said in training.

The 35-year-old shared two-man gold with Friedrich at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics after both clocked exactly the same time.

I think they also considered him the one to beat going into 2018, and hes even more dominant now, added Krips.

Friedrich is seeking to defend his two and four-man titles from four years ago.

If he takes two-man gold in Tuesdays final heats, it will mean German racers have won seven of the eight events at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.

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'He wins everything' Friedrich on track in Beijing two-man bobsleigh - Macau Business

Germany must act immediately to prevent the hanging of a national detained in Iran who risks the death penalty on charges vehemently denied by his supporters, his family and activists said on Monday.

Anti-regime activist Jamshid Sharmahd, 66, appeared in court in Tehran earlier this month charged with spreading corruption on earth over accusations of involvement in a bombing at a mosque in 2008.

If convicted on this charge, which campaigners say is often used against opponents of the government, he could face execution.

It is of the utmost importance that the German federal government act immediately to prevent the planned state assassination of Mr Sharmahd, his daughter Gazelle and more than two dozen other activists said in an open letter to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

We urge you to take immediate, serious and sustained action to save the life of the 66-year-old German citizen and his family from this horrific act, said the signatories, who included former detainees in Iran and family members of those still held.

Sharmahds family say that he was abducted by the Iranian security services in 2020 while in transit in Dubai and then brought under duress to Iran.

He is affiliated withan anti-regime group known as Kingdom Assembly of Iran and had been based in the United States.

The family fears he risks a similar fate to France-based Ruhollah Zam, who was executed in December 2020 after leaving Paris in October 2020for Iraq, where supporters say he was detained by Iran.

The lettersaid the family was very concerned for the health of Sharmahd, who was now severely emaciated.

It noted that his trial is presided over by Abolqasem Salavati, the same judge who had sentenced Zam to death.

We urge that the matter be given top priority, that a crisis management team be set up, and that the German government exhaust all political and diplomatic avenues to put pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran, said the letter.

A general condemnation of the death penalty and a call to respect human rights are not enough.

Sharmahd is one of over a dozen Western nationals including American, Austrian, British, French and German citizens still held in Iran as talks to revive the 2015 deal over Tehrans nuclear drive reach an acute phase.

Iran accuses Sharmahdof being involved in the April 12, 2008, bombing of a mosque in Shiraz in southern Iran, which killed 14 people.

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Germany urged to save citizen risking execution in Iran - Macau Business