Chinese shoemakers could sue EU over tariffs

BEIJING, Oct 14: Chinese shoemakers are expected to lodge lawsuits by the end of the month in Europe opposing an EU decision to impose anti-dumping duties on shoe imports, a state newspaper said today.

An alliance of companies met in the southern city of Guangzhou this week to work out how best to offer legal and financial support to some 150 Chinese firms affected by the new tariffs, the Beijing Times said.

It quoted an official with the alliance as saying law suits had to be lodged individually by companies as opposed to as a group, according to EU rules.

After months of internal argument between protectionists and free traders, the European Union agreed this month to impose duties of 16.5 per cent for leather shoes from China and 10 per cent for footwear from Vietnam for two years.

China complained that the decision was based on neither fact nor law, and promised to take appropriate action, though it did not specify what.

Shoe executives and officials from the Chinese Commerce Ministry are expected to meet this weekend to further discuss the matter, the Beijing Times said.

But the International Business Daily, published by the Commerce Ministry, called on the industry to take a measured approach to the duties, and not act rashly.

''Legally speaking, it is possible the decision could be overturned,'' it said.

China has suggested in the past it could turn to the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) dispute-settlement procedure over the issue.

The duties could affect the jobs of 70,000 people in China, the Beijing Times added.(AGENCIES)

Diverticulitis increasing in young, obese patients

NEW YORK, Oct 14: The results of a new study suggest that the demographics of acute diverticulitis in the United States are changing. In acute diverticulitis, a common intestinal disease related to a low-fiber diet, increased pressure causes pouches, or diverticula, to bulge out in the wall of the intestines. Bacterial infections can develop and cause serious complications, such as perforations.

Even though most medical textbooks suggest that acute diverticulitis is primarily confined to elderly patients, radiologists in Baltimore report that the majority of cases treated recently at their institution's emergency department occurred in patients age 50 or younger. Approximately one in five cases was diagnosed in patients younger than 40.

''I've been doing abdominal and pelvic CT scans for about 12 years, and during the last 5 years, I was seeing a lot more acute diverticulitis cases in young patients who were obese,'' D. Barry Daly said in an interview with Reuters Health.

To confirm this observation, Daly and Dr Eram Zaidi reviewed medical records of 104 adult patients treated at the University of Maryland Medical Center for acute diverticulitis between 1999 and 2003. Their findings appear in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Patient age ranged from 22 to 88 years, and the authors observed that 53.8 per cent were no older than 50 years and 21.1 per cent were 40 or younger.

Daly and Zaidi measured abdominal obesity in 82 per cent of subjects. Patients who were 50 years old or younger were more likely to be obese than older patients. The relationship between abdominal obesity and diverticulitis was the most pronounced when the analysis was limited to patients 40 years or younger and those older than 70 years.

Eighty-nine per cent of patients required hospital admission, the investigators report. CT scans revealed complications in 36 per cent of patients, including colon perforation, abscess or bowel obstruction. Surgery or abscess drainage was required in 26.9 per cent of the cases.

The investigators emphasise the importance of CT imaging in determining or confirming the diagnosis of acute diverticulitis; staging of the inflammatory response accurately, identifying serious complications, and guiding treatment decisions for the patients.

Failure to diagnose acute diverticulitis in younger individuals early in the disease process increases the risk of major complications. Moreover, because of their longer remaining lifespan, ''young adults are at risk for repeated episodes,'' Daly added. ''We've seen patients with up to five acute attacks, and we have patients who had three surgeries.''

''Acute diverticulitis is not a trivial disease,'' he emphasised.

Acute diverticulitis can cause fever, malaise, elevated white cell count and other symptoms, characteristics that should guide physicians when considering referral for a CT scan.

Daly also pointed out that some patients develop mild, self-limiting diverticulitis involving inflammation of a single diverticulum. ''But typically, those who present at the ED have extensive disease, and quite a few of them are going to develop complications,'' he added.

In young adults with belly pain, he recommends that acute diverticulitis be included in the differential diagnosis, along with appendicitis, acute inflammation of the gall bladder, pancreatitis and colon.(AGENCIES)

NKorea's Kim may trade cognac for nuclear weapons

SEOUL, Oct 14: North Korea's decision to test a nuclear weapon may mean no more French wines and spirits for the Dear Leader or jet skis for his beloved sons.

The United Nations is moving closer to imposing sanctions on North Korea for its announced nuclear test on Monday that include steps to hit the Stalinist state's nuclear and missile programmes as well as keeping luxury goods away from its leaders.

''In a country as impoverished as North Korea, luxury goods are a key currency that keep the elite happy and reward those who win the favour of its leaders,'' said a South Korean government official, who asked not to be identified.

No one enjoys luxury goods more than paramount leader Kim Jong-il, who boasts the country's finest wine cellar with space for 10,000 bottles.

Kim has a penchant for fine food such as lobster, caviar and the most expensive cuts of sushi that he has flown in to him from Japan, according to Kim's former chef.

Kenji Fujimoto, a pseudonym, who worked as Kim's personal sushi chef in the late 1980s and 1990s at a time when more than 1 million North Koreans perished in a famine, said in a book Kim would go to extremes to satisfy his appetite.

Kim would have aides purchase caviar for him in Iran and even sent one envoy to Beijing to bring back McDonald's hamburgers, he said.

He would give gifts such as lingerie, a bidet, foreign currency and a down blanket to winners of gun-shooting matches or gambling games, Fujimoto said.

Intelligence officials in the South who are familiar with Kim's habit's said the North's leader has mellowed over the years, especially in terms of drinking. He has curtailed his intake of cognac and these days enjoys sipping wine.

The biggest gifts for top cadres are cars, with Mercedes Benz the brand of choice for the elite. Other gifts include pianos, camcorders and leather love seats.

Michael Breen, a Seoul-based consultant and author of ''Kim Jong-il: North Korea's Dear Leader'', said it might be difficult to curtail the North's purchase of luxury goods.

Breen said the North had people overseas purchase the goods and ship them back to North Korea, or bring them in personally.

Kim used to have envoys buy elaborate toys overseas for his three known sons when they were children, Breen said. Now that they have grown up, they prefer jet skis, according to Fujimoto.

Luxury brand companies for the most part have no direct dealings with the North.

Then there is the matter of what constitutes luxury goods, especially for the average North Korean who earns a dollar or two a day.

''For the average comrade on the streets of Pyongyang, a luxury good would be a hamburger, or maybe even a second bowl of rice,'' Breen said.(AGENCIES)

Asbestos kept off global list of toxic substances

GENEVA, Oct 14: Chrysotile asbestos, a known human carcinogen, will remain off a global ''watch list'' of toxic substances for at least two more years after countries led by Canada blocked consensus in United Nations talks.

While it is now rarely used in Western nations because of health concerns, asbestos remains common in developing world construction, mostly as an additive to cement.

Parties to the Rotterdam Convention, an international treaty governing trade in toxic substances, failed to agree to add chrysotile, which represents 94 percent of world asbestos consumption, to a list of more than 30 substances about which exporting countries must inform importers before shipping.

''The lack of a decision at this time to list chrysotile asbestos raises concerns for many developing countries that need to protect their citizens from the well-known risks of this hazardous substance,'' UN Environment Programme chief Achim Steiner said after the Geneva meeting.

Once used widely as an insulating and fireproofing agent in buildings, ships and consumer products, asbestos has been shown to cause cancers of the lung and other organs as well as breathing disorders.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates at least 90,000 people die every year of asbestos-related diseases.

Canada, whose French-speaking Quebec province is a major asbestos producer and exporter, led opposition to its addition to the list, according to environmentalists tracking the talks.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Canadian officials say putting chrysotile asbestos on the list would be tantamount to banning international trade in it and threaten jobs.

But Alexander Mueller of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said listing the substance would not prompt serious restrictions. ''It would not constitute a recommendation to ban its global trade or use,'' he said in a statement.

Proponents such as the European Union, Australia and Chile say the watch list gives poor countries the chance to decide which potentially hazardous products they want to receive and to exclude those they cannot manage safely -- an issue with huge resonance following the dumping of toxic substances in August in the Ivory Coast capital Abidjan.

''At least 200,000 workers will be killed by asbestos disease before the proposal to list asbestos can be tabled again,'' said Laurie Kazan-Allen of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, who called the failure to act ''truly tragic.''

But several developing countries including Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and India spoke against the addition of asbestos, largely due to concerns that tighter trade rules would led to pressure for tighter domestic regulations.

Countries will revisit the asbestos issue at a 2008 meeting of the Rotterdam Convention signatories, where they will also consider the addition of tributyl tin, used in paints for ship hulls, and the insecticide endosulfan. (AGENCIES)

France's Pinault tops art world power list

LONDON, Oct 14: Francois Pinault, French owner of Christie's auctioneers and a leading collector, has been named the most powerful figure in the contemporary art world in 2006, toppling last year's winner, British artist Damien Hirst.

Pinault's triumph was matched by the failure of his rival in art and business, Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury goods group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, who failed to make it into ArtReview magazine's top 100 annual ranking having reached number 21 in 2005.

It is also the first time anyone outside the United States and Britain has topped the list, now in its fifth year.

Previous winners were Hirst, U.S. Collectors Larry Gagosian and Ronald S. Lauder in 2004 and 2003 respectively, and British collector Charles Saatchi in 2002.

''It helps that Christie's has had an amazing year, but the tipping point this year was Palazzo Grassi in Venice,'' said ArtReview editor John Weich.

''Grassi had political repercussions as well, being the latest blow to a French state that couldn't keep one of the most profound contemporary art collections in France.''

Pinault, also owner of the Gucci fashion group, moved his collection to Venice after attempts to build a museum on an island in the river Seine in Paris were thwarted by bureaucracy.

But earlier this month, Arnault announced plans for a 100 million euro ($127 million) art museum in Paris designed by architect Frank Gehry.

Weich said ArtReview was going to print when Arnault unveiled his project, which may well have kept him in the list.

In second place this year was Gagosian, followed by Nicholas Serota, head of London's Tate museums, and Glenn Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

ART FAIRS

The growing importance of art fairs was underlined by the presence of Sam Keller, who runs the Art Basel event, at number five in the list and Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp, directors of London's popular Frieze Art Fair, at number eight.

Los Angeles-based Eli Broad is ranked sixth, followed by Saatchi, who leapt to seventh from 19th in 2005.

Rounding off the top 10 are US artists Bruce Nauman, unchanged at number nine, and Jeff Koons, who jumped from 62nd position in 2005 to 10th.

Hirst, last year's winner, slipped to number 11.

''With artists, we often find ourselves weighing selling success against intellectual pull,'' said Weich.

''Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst are enormously successful artists, but time and again we came back to Nauman, the most influential artist alive.''

Weich said he based the ranking on commercial clout, intellectual influence and popularity.

He added that the 2006 ranking was more strict about differentiating between contemporary and modern art.

And so Ronald S Lauder, the cosmetics magnate who bought a 1907 painting by Gustav Klimt this year for a record-breaking 135 million dollars, drops off the list entirely.

China's emerging status is reflected by having three people on this year's list, while the United States features 40 times and Britain 25 times. (AGENCIES)

Paper air tickets to fade out in China from next week

BEIJING, Oct 14: Paper air tickets will fade out in China from next Monday giving way to electronic tickets, reducing costs of airlines.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will stop providing paper tickets, which now account for more than 70 per cent of China's paper air ticket sales, as of October 16, according to the IATA, the state media reported here today.

Meanwhile, all Chinese airlines will popularise electronic air tickets by the end of this year, an expert with the security technology centre of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), Li Qi said.

"E-ticketing will reduce the operational costs of the airlines, making price drops possible," Li said.

The cost of an e-ticket is about a tenth of that of a paper air ticket, according to the IATA, which required its 261 member airlines to abandon all paper tickets by the end of 2007.

With e-ticketing, passengers can make reservations on line or by phone and check in with a ticket number.

However, many passengers feel insecure about holding no tickets in hand. Besides, it is difficult for business travellers to apply for reimbursement, with some airports and ticket selling agencies unable to print reimbursement vouchers for e-tickets, according to experts.

Facing those difficulties, the e-ticketing needs to improve its selling system and after service, said Zhu Qingyu, who is in charge of market research at the China Air Transport Association. (PTI)

Agitated workers refuse to release body of Indian labour

DUBAI, Oct 14: Rebellious workers are refusing to release the body of an Indian, who died in a squalid camp housing 1,300 labourers held captive by an influential contracting company in Kuwait.

Bino Stephen died yesterday in the desert camp where men hailing from India, the Philippines and Egypt are being held.

No government action has been forthcoming despite media reports on the appalling living conditions in the camp.

"We want to find a solution to our dreadful situation by having our living conditions improved or have us repatriated back home," said Mohammed, one of the workers.

Four other inmates have been ill since last week because of suspected malaria and the water supply is unfit for human consumption.

An official of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour told the Kuwait Times that the death of one person in the camp could not be termed ‘disaster’.

He said if there is a complaint, it has to be registered, and the complainant should come personally to do so in order to take action.

When asked whether the ministry would send an inspector to the camp to check the conditions there, the official said he cannot take the risk in case the inspector falls sick or gets infected. (UNI)

Dengue fever outbreak in Pakistani city kills 17

KARACHI, Oct 14: Mosquito-borne dengue fever has killed at least 17 people in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, in the past four months, five of them since the beginning of October, health officials said today.

Health officials have declared a high alert in the city's hospitals after about 250 people tested positive for the disease, they said.

''We have had 17 reported deaths from the virus in various hospitals,'' Abdul Majid, additional secretary for health in the southern province of Sindh, told Reuters. Karachi is the provincial capital.

''It is not a panic-like situation but yes, in the last few weeks cases have been increasing on a daily basis,'' he said.

Opposition politicians, some aid workers and the media have criticised the city government for not anticipating the disease after the rainy season and for not carrying out proper fumigation drives.

Dengue is a disease of the tropics and is caused by a specific type of mosquito, the Aedes mosquito, that bites during the day. The mosquitoes usually breed in rain water trapped in discarded containers and car tyres.

Majid said the health department had appealed for more blood donations from the public to help treat those suffering from the disease. (AGENCIES)

Prince Charles unveils monument on Bali bombing victims

LONDON, Oct 14: Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, have unveiled a monument dedicated to the memory of victims of the October 12, 2002 Bali bombings at the St James Park, Westminster here.

The monument, which was unveiled yesterday, is inscribed with the names of British people who were killed in the incident four years back.

Some 28 of the Bali bombing's 202 victims were Britons.

Speaking on the occassion, State Minister for Culture, Media and Sports, Tessa Jowell, described the monument as an expression of "sorrow and solidarity".

The function was also attended by the ambassadors to Britain of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, the United States, Taiwan and Indonesia.

Prince Charles, witnessed by the Duchess of Cornwall, put flowers on the monument after Minister Jowell and all the ambassadors present had read the names of the victims. (AGENCIES)

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