BEIJING, Mar 23:  China’s biggest state-owned chemical company announced plans today to acquire Italian tire manufacturer Pirelli, adding to a string of high-profile Chinese corporate purchases in Europe.
ChemChina said it has agreed to buy a 26.2 per cent stake in Pirelli Tyre S.P.A. From its biggest shareholder, Camfin S.P.A., which is controlled by the family of Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera. The company said it would offer to buy the remaining outstanding shares.
Flush with cash from their country’s boom, Chinese companies are stepping up acquisitions abroad as they diversify beyond their own economy, where growth is slowing.
Europe is seen as an attractive market for potential purchases due to the relative weakness of the euro right now and what Chinese companies see as less political resistance to large deals there than they might face in the United States.
Chemchina, also known as China National Chemical Corp., is one of China’s biggest industrial companies, with businesses in petrochemicals, oil processing, agricultural chemicals, rubber products and chemical equipment.
The Beijing-based company, which has its own tire manufacturing operation, said it would support the growth and expansion of Pirelli, the world’s fifth-largest tire supplier.
The deal reflects ChemChina’s unusual status as a state-owned Chinese company that has made ambitious acquisitions abroad outside the finance and natural resources industries.
In 2011, its unit China National Bluestar closed the biggest Chinese acquisition in Europe to that point, paying USD 2 billion for Norway-based chemical producer Elkem. (AGENCIES)

BEIJING, Mar 23:  China today condoled the death of former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, describing him as an Asian statesman of unique influence.
President Xi Jinping praised Lee as an “old friend of the Chinese people”.
Xi said Lee, who was ethnically Chinese, was “widely respected by the international community as a strategist and a statesman” and expressed “sincere condolences” to his relatives.
“Lee is a strategist with both oriental values and international visions,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said in a statement.
Hong said that Lee was “a uniquely influential statesman in Asia” who made “historic contributions” to Singapore’s ties with Beijing.
China expressed “deep condolences and sincere solicitude to the Singaporean government, its people and the relatives of Mr Lee Kuan Yew for his passing”, Hong said.
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father, served as the country’s prime minister from 1959 to 1990 and then as a senior minister and minister mentor.
He died early today aged 91.
As a founder of China-Singapore relations, Lee had been committed to the promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation and made historical contribution for the establishment and development of bilateral ties, said Hong. (PTI)

WASHINGTON, Mar 23:  A pair of air pollutants linked to climate change could also be major contributors to the unparallelled rise in the number of people sneezing, sniffling and wheezing during allergy season, scientists have warned.
Researchers found that the gases, nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone, appear to provoke chemical changes in certain airborne allergens that could increase their potency.
That, in combination with changes in global climate, could help explain why airborne allergies are becoming more common, researchers said.
“Scientists have long suspected that air pollution and climate change are involved in the increasing prevalence of allergies worldwide. But understanding the underlying chemical processes behind this phenomenon has proven elusive,” said Ulrich Poschl, of the Max Planck Institute in Germany.
“Our research is just a starting point, but it does begin to suggest how chemical modifications in allergenic proteins occur and how they may affect allergenicity,” Poschl said.
In laboratory tests and computer simulations, researchers studied the effects of various levels of ozone and nitrogen dioxide on the major birch pollen allergen called Bet v 1.
The researchers determined that ozone – the main component of smog – oxidises an amino acid called tyrosine that helps form Bet v 1 proteins.
This transformation sets in motion a chain of chemical reactions that involves reactive oxygen intermediates and can bind proteins together, altering their structures and their potential biological effects.
When this occurs, the cross-linked proteins can become more potent allergens.
Poschl’s team also found that nitrogen dioxide, a component of automobile exhaust, appears to alter the polarity and binding capabilities of Bet v 1 allergenic proteins.
This, in conjunction with the effects of ozone, the researchers predict, may enhance the immune response of the body to these particles, particularly in humid, wet and smoggy environments.
The scientists plan to identify other modified allergenic proteins in the environment and hope, in collaboration with biomedical researchers, to study their effects on the human immune system, which may also be affected by other physiological factors.
The research was presented at the 249th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Denver. (PTI)

LAHORE, Mar 23:  Outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed today launched a ‘new movement’ for creating unity in Pakistan and implementing Sharia laws in the troubled country.
Speaking at a large gathering at a ground near his banned outfit’s headquarters in Chauburji here, 65-year-old Saeed said implementing Islamic Sharia in the country would be one of the prime objectives of the new movement.
“JuD activists will go to every nook and corner of the country to carry the message of unity. JuD will hold conferences across the country and (Pakistan-occupied) Kashmir to mobilise the masses to join the cause of the JuD,” he said.
The founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba believes that Bangladesh may rejoin Pakistan if Sharia is implemented in the country.
“The implementation of the Sharia will make Pakistan a model state attracting even Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) to rejoin Pakistan,” said Saeed, who roams around freely in Pakistan despite being a designated terrorist.
Tightening its noose around Lashkar-e-Taiba, the US in June last year added its affiliates, including the JuD, to its list of designated terror organisations. (PTI)

BEIRUT, Mar 23: Insurgent groups in Syria have carried out scores of indiscriminate attacks that have killed and maimed civilians in violation of the laws of war, a Human Rights Watch report said today.
The report said armed groups could not point to abuses by government forces and allied militias to justify their own violence, which it said had often targeted areas with a high concentration of religious minorities.    ‘We’ve seen a race to the bottom in Syria, with rebel groups mimicking the ruthlessness of government forces with devastating consequences for civilians,’ said Nadim Houry, HRW’s deputy Middle East director.
The Syrian crisis started in March 2011 with Arab Spring-inspired protests against President Bashar al-Assad. The uprising turned into armed conflict as the security forces cracked down on protesters.
Four years on, more than 200,000 people have been killed in a civil war pitting the army and allied militias against a range of insurgent groups, including hardline jihadists such as Islamic State and mainstream rebels.
The report covered attacks between January 2012 to April 2014 in and around Damascus and Homs. Some attacks were claimed by groups such as al Qaeda’s Syria wing Nusra Front and the ultra-hardline Islamic State, HRW said.    However, members of the ‘Free Syrian Army’ and other rebel groups also appear to have carried out deliberate, deadly attacks on civilian areas, the HRW report found.    Free Syrian Army is a name adopted by a plethora of mainstream rebel groups that often operate independently of each other. Some of these groups have received support from Assad’s Western and Arab foes.
The research was based on victim and witness accounts, on-site investigations, videos and information on social media. It described attacks using car bombs, mortars and rockets.    The report documented 17 car bombings and other explosions in the Damascus countryside, central Damascus and various locations in Homs.
Many of the areas targeted have a large population of religious minorities including Christians, Alawites, Shi’ites and Druze which are seen by Sunni Muslim insurgents as supportive of the government, the report said.
Assad is an Alawite and his allies include the Shi’ite Islamist government in Iran.
The report urged the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court and impose an arms embargo on forces implicated in widespread or systematic abuses, whichever side they were fighting on. (AGENCIES)

SYDNEY, Mar 23:  Twelve whales died today after stranding themselves against a rocky breakwater on Australia’s west coast, with experts working hard to save another four.
The pod of long-finned pilot whales got into trouble in Bunbury harbour, 175 kilometres (110 miles) south of Perth, Western Australia’s Department of Parks and Wildlife said.
The department’s nature conservation leader Kim Williams said 12 whales had died, and six had been herded out to sea by small boats.
“This afternoon’s efforts have focussed on the rescue of four remaining whales that were stranded in the shallows, and they were pulled out to sea using a sling and boats,” he said in a statement.
“Unfortunately one of these whales has re-stranded and is being taken out to deeper water again, while the other three are not swimming strongly and there is a chance they will also re-strand.”
Williams said it was hoped that the released whales would join another pod of 15 long-finned pilot whales which has been swimming in the area all day.
Whale beachings are relatively common in Australia, but scientists do not know why they happen.
In 2009 a group of long-finned pilot whales, which can grow up to 6.5 metres (21 feet) in length, stranded themselves in Hamelin Bay, south of Bunbury, with efforts to save most of them failing. (AGENCIES)

ISLAMABAD, Mar 23:  After a seven-year hiatus, Pakistan today showcased its growing military might, including tactical nuclear missiles and fighter jets, at a joint tri-service parade to celebrate the National Day in a symbolic show of strength in the war against the Taliban.
The Pakistan Day parade – marked to commemorate the Muslim League’s Resolution on March 23, 1940 demanding a separate nation for Muslims – was held amid tight security, with cellular phone networks being blocked as a precaution to thwart attacks from militants.
The day dawned with a 31-gun salute in the federal capital and 21-gun salutes in provincial capitals.
The event started with joint parade of three services, paramilitary troops and police. It also featured cultural events, display of weapons and aerial show by the jets.
President Mamnoon Hussain, who is head of the state and supreme commander of armed forces, took the salute of the parade and paid tribute to those who had lost their lives in the Taliban attack on Army Public School on December 16, 2014.
The ceremony was also attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the services chiefs, ministers, diplomats and people.
Both modern and more traditional elements of military arsenal were put on display, from nuclear-capable missiles and the new home-made armed Buraq drone to a camel-mounted musical band, during the parade.
Buraq drone armed with Burq guided missile system flew over the venue of parade as symbol of Pakistan’s prowess in the field of latest arm technology. The successful experiment of the drone was carried out recently, making Pakistan one of the a few countries having this technology.
Several missiles including Nasr, Shaheen, Ghauri, Babur and Ghaznavi were paraded, most of which are capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
Most of the weapons system, including Al-Zarar, Al-Khalid tanks, armoured vehicles, missiles have been produced indigenously.
A squadron JF-17 Thunder aircraft built locally was also part of the parade which for the first time featured a contingent of woman army officer.
The army’s Strategic Command Force, responsible for the safety of missiles, also took part in the parade.
The last parade was held on March 23, 2008, reviewed by General Pervez Musharraf as a civilian president, but was discontinued owing to security concerns. (PTI)
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LONDON, Mar 23:  A giant redwood tree that was felled 125 years ago in the US state of California to satisfy a drunken bet is all set to be reborn with scientist cloning the stump in the UK.
The Fieldbrook Redwood Stump, whose stump is 35 feet in diameter, towered as high as a 30-storey building over the course of nearly 4,000 years in the US would have been the biggest tree alive today had it not been so ignominiously felled in 1890.
The tree was felled to satisfy a drunken bet about making a table big enough to seat 40 guests from a single slice of tree-trunk, The Independent reported.
The tree is about to be reborn as a clone planted on the coast of Cornwall, possibly as early as this spring.
Scientists have managed to cultivate cuttings from the Fieldbrook Redwood Stump, which is 35 feet in diameter, and 10 of its clones are now growing as knee-high saplings in the plant nursery at the Eden Project, near St Austell in UK.
This new plantation will be a library of the tallest, oldest living things on Earth.
“The notion of putting back trees that have their own story has huge appeal,” one of the scientist said. “There are lots of ancient trees in Britain that have a piece of history attached to them.”
The Fieldbrook stump is a Californian coast redwood which was felled under the orders of William Waldorf Astor, a wealthy American living in Britain, who became embroiled in a bar-room bet about making a table seating 40 from a single cross-section of a tree. (PTI)
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