Canada court orders tobacco firms to pay smokers Can$15.5 bn

Yahoo – AFP, 2 June 2015 

A Canadian court ordered tobacco firms to pay Can$15.5 billion to smokers

 in Quebec province who claimed they were never warned about the health

 risks associated with smoking (AFP Photo/Aris Messinis)

Ottawa (AFP) - A Canadian court on Monday ordered tobacco firms to pay Can$15.5 billion (US12.4 billion) to smokers in Quebec province who claimed they were never warned about the health risks associated with smoking.

Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI-MacDonald said they would appeal the award for moral and punitive damages, which is the largest in Canadian history.

The two class action lawsuits behind the award were originally filed in 1998, but only went to trial recently. They represent nearly one million smokers who were unable to quit or who suffer from throat or lung cancer, or emphysema.

The plaintiffs argued that the companies neglected to properly warn their customers about the dangers of smoking, and failed in their general duty "not to cause injury to another person," according to the Quebec Superior Court decision.

They also accused the firms of unscrupulous marketing and of destroyed documents relevant to the case.

The companies said the court's decision is not supported by the evidence presented at trial, and vowed to try to overturn it on appeal.

"Since the 1950s, Canadians have had a very high awareness of the health risks of smoking," JTI-Macdonald said in a statement.

"That awareness has been reinforced by the health warnings printed on every legal cigarette package for more than 40 years."

Related Article:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”

US grandma, 92, sets record for oldest woman marathoner

Yahoo – AFP, 1 June 2015

Harriette Thompson, 92, and son Brenny Thompson, finish the Suja Rock 'n' Roll

 San Diego Marathon on May 31, 2015 in San Diego, California (AFP Photo/Jerod Harris)

San Diego (AFP) - A 92-year-old US grandmother has become the oldest woman to finish a marathon, when she crossed the finish line of a San Diego 26-miler on Sunday, race organizers said.

A smiling Harriette Thompson, aged 92 years and 65 days, was cheered by dozens of onlookers and supporters as she completed the Southern California event in seven hours, 24 minutes and 36 seconds.

Speaking to her hometown newspaper, the Charlotte Observer, Thompson said she felt "a little stiff" after the race.

"I was really tired at one point. Around mile 21, I was going up a hill and it was like a mountain," she told the Observer.

"I was thinking, 'This is sort of crazy at my age.' But then I felt better coming down the hill. And my son Brenny kept feeding me all this wonderful carbohydrates that kept me going."

Harriette Thompson, 92, participates in the Suja Rock 'n' Roll San Diego 

Marathon on May 31, 2015 in San Diego, California (AFP Photo/Jerod Harris)

The previous oldest woman marathon runner was another American, Gladys "Gladyator" Burrill, who was 92 years and 19 days old when she did the Honolulu event in 2010.

Thompson participated in the marathon to raise money for cancer research, a disease she has herself survived.

The grandmother to 10 grandkids also completed the race last year with a time of seven hours, seven minutes and 42 seconds.

The oldest male marathon runner is Fauja Singh, who was 101 when he retired from racing in 2013.

Related Articles:

Japan's 'Golden Bolt': 103-year-old challenges world's fastest man

Japanese centenarian sets world swimming record

Germany has lowest birth rate in the world, study shows

The results point to a downward trend in the labor force, which could cause Germany to lose its "economic edge." The publishers say that women's participation in the labor market is key to ensuring the country's growth.

Deutsche Welle, 29 May 2015

Germany has the world's lowest birth rate, according to a new study produced by German auditing firm BDO in partnership with the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).

Although Germany has had the lowest birth rate in Europe in recent years, the study alleges that it has now surpassed countries outside the continent.

The study shows that, on average, 8.2 children were born per 1,000 inhabitants over the past five years. In Europe, Portugal and Italy came in second and third with an average of 9.0 and 9.3 children, respectively.

Globally, the study pointed to the African continent for the highest birth rates. The West African country Niger took the top position with 50 children born per 1,000 inhabitants.

Diminishing labor force

Henning Vöpel, director of the HWWI, said that the economic repercussions of having the lowest birth rate in the world could be damaging as Germany's working-age population will shrink from its current 61 percent to 54 percent by 2030.

"This trend has not digressed as much as it has in any other industrialized country as it has in Germany, despite the influx of young immigrant workers," Vöpel said.

Arno Probst, an executive board member of the BDO, said that as a direct consequence, Germany will face higher wage costs due to a shortage in skilled labor.

"Without strong labor markets, Germany cannot maintain its economic edge in the long run," Probst said.

He added that women's participation in Germany's labor force was key in order to ensure the country's economic efficiency.

ls/msh (dpa)

Related Articles:

German birth rate hits new low
Dutch Birth rate drops again, economic crisis gets the blame

What Retirement? Singapore Recruits Older Workers to Stay

Singapore Population Growth Hits 10-Year Low

Fewer parents in China want a second child than expected

Seven billion people and climbing, but not everywhere

Dutch centenarians double in 14 years to 2,200

Japan’s Centenarian Population Swells to Record, at Almost 59,000


"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…

Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?

The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].

Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”

Obama to 5-Year-Old Gay Marriage Advocate: 'Couldn't Agree More!'

Yahoo - ABC, Good Morning America, Erin Dooley, 25 May 2015

Obama to 5-Year-Old Gay Marriage Advocate: 'Couldn't Agree More!' (ABC News)

Five-year-old Yasmeen Faruqui didn't feel like doing her homework. She insisted she wanted to write to President Obama instead. And he wrote back.

"Please stop war for our world, instead have a meeting," reads Yasmeen's handwritten note, posted to Twitter by her aunt. "Please give a speech to tell everyone they can marry who they want." 

@POTUS A letter from my 5 year old niece. Right out of the mouths of babes! pic.twitter.com/Q8Sovz8eEL

— Dr Z (@DrFahmida) 22 mei 2015

"Tell your niece I really like her letter. Couldn't agree more!" the commander-in-chief replied Friday on Twitter. It's just the sixth tweet on his new account.

.@DrFahmida tell your niece I really like her letter. Couldn't agree more!

— President Obama (@POTUS) 22 mei 2015

Yasmeen's words were all her own, her mother told ABC News. (After all, only a 5-year-old would note she's "almost six" in a letter to the leader of the free world.)

"I just let her do her thing," Tasha Faruqui said. "Those are absolutely her spontaneous ideas. ... She has a mind of her own!"

Yasmeen, who's set to participate in a family member's same-sex wedding ceremony this fall, was bothered when her playmates insisted "boys can't marry boys."

"I don't think that's wrong," she told her mom.

"She's very much an independent thinker," Yasmeen's aunt, Fahmida Zaman, told ABC. "She attempts to respectfully color outside the lines."

Because her father serves in the Navy, war has always scared Yasmeen. When she heard the president had read her letter, she went through the roof.

"This means the war's going to end! He got the letter," Yasmeen yelled.

When her mother explained that isn't quite how diplomacy works, Yasmeen was still ecstatic: "Now he got my message and he can share my message," she told her mom.

"I think it says a lot about our president, responding to a letter of a 5-year-old. That's pretty remarkable," Zaman said. "It lets her feel like her voice is heard."

Related Article:

"The Energy of the Future" - Dec 7, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The New 'Message' from Space

Let me tell you what the message is that is being communicated: Unlock to 44 percent! This is the message: The Human race has passed the marker and is ready for the next step in evolution. I am talking about the old soul. You are the ones who will be first to get this message. It is you, and some of your "old soul" children, who are starting to feel and accept this!

Let me tell you in this lesson today that the first thing that this unlocking will begin to create is what we're going to call Akashic acuity. You're going to start remembering, and it's about time. Can you celebrate this? It's about time that when you're born you don't start from scratch, in the dark, and doing everything all over again. Instead, you remember!

I want to talk to some individuals who are listening to this and are in this room. Have your grandchildren had the audacity to tell you who they used to be? Don't raise your hand; I know you're here. They feel it, and they know it, and out of the mouths of these babes come the most profound information that this planet has ever heard! They knew who they were! Some will point their fingers at you and say, “Don't you remember? I was your mum in another life.” That's a bit disconcerting, isn't it?

I want you to remember one of the premises of incarnation, the one that we have given you over and over. You incarnate in family groups. There's a reason for this, so there is comfort and joy. It's so you don't have to learn the energy of each related person, all over again, each time. The energies of the family stay together and you can accomplish more that way. There's always a benevolent reason for these things. Every single attribute of the esoteric system of life, whether it's your grids or reincarnation, is benevolent. Did you hear that? It's a beautiful system, and not random. It's not about judgment; it's not about punishment. It is, instead, about the love of God for you, and what I'm about to tell you is what is changing is energy.

Akashic Acuity

So we have established that you are moving into this new radiation, and we have established that it intersects the sun. The sun blasts your magnetic field with it (via the solar wind) and the magnetic field talks to your DNA. Suddenly, there is the potential some of your DNA is being unlocked. The attributes of unlocking Akashic acuity will help you to remember who you've been. Now, with this remembrance comes energy - not about who you were, but rather it gives you the energy of what you did. I don't mean physically; I mean energetically and mentally. Old souls carry with them experience. When you look into the eyes of a child, you're going to see wisdom just waiting to break out. Dear ones, these children are different. They are not going to go through what you did! They have a whole new set of issues, and most of their issues are trying to navigate the old issues you create for them!

There's something we brought up in a former channelling called the wisdom factor. Now, the wisdom factor is caused by Akashic acuity. After living Human life over and over, you start remembering the wisdom that you have gained through these past lifetimes. You don't necessarily remember who you were, but rather the fact that you were at all and the experiences you had. Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing how to read? Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing not to touch something hot? Where did it come from? You're going to see more of this, and a feeling of "been there, done that".

Akashic acuity is remembrance of experience during past lifetimes. As the child grows, that remembrance becomes pure wisdom. As the child starts to awaken and the pineal opens, something else happens. The grid starts talking to the child through the DNA, and in the grid is also the information from the time capsules we spoke about in past channellings. The time capsules start feeding the planet with increased wisdom and knowledge. You don't have to reincarnate to awaken even further! Akashic acuity means suddenly Humans know more than other children have in the past - much more. …”

Man who forced French supermarkets to donate food wants to take law global

Arash Derambarsh, a local councillor who kickstarted fight against food waste in his Paris suburb, wants to convince more countries to follow France’s example

The Guardian, Kim Willsher in Paris, Monday 25 May 2015

People shop in a supermarket in southern France. Photograph: Rremy
Gabalda/AFP/Getty Images

A councillor whose campaign against food waste led to a law forcing French supermarkets to donate unwanted food to charity has set his sights on getting similar legislation passed globally.

Arash Derambarsh.
Photograph:
Bertrand Guay/AFP

Arash Derambarsh said it was “scandalous and absurd” that food is wasted and in some cases deliberately spoiled while the homeless, poor and unemployed go hungry.

Derambarsh – a municipal councillor for the “Divers Droit” (diverse right) in Courbevoie, north-west of Paris – persuaded French MPs to adopt the regulation after a petition gained more than 200,000 signatures and celebrity support in just four months.

The amendment was approved as part of a wider law – the Loi Macron – that covers economic activity and equality in France and is expected to be passed by the national assembly on Tuesday, entering the statute books shortly afterwards.

It will bar supermarkets from throwing away food approaching best-before dates and deliberately poisoning products with bleach to stop them being retrieved by people foraging through bins.

Now Derambarsh wants to convince European countries and the wider world to adopt similar bans. “Food is the basis of life, it is an elementary factor in our existence,” he told the Guardian.

Arash Derambarsh began his drive to fight food waste and food
Poverty in Courbevoie. Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP

“I have been insulted and attacked and accused of being naive and idealistic, but I became a local councillor because I wanted to help people. Perhaps it is naive to be concerned about other human beings, but I know what it is like to be hungry.

“When I was a law student living on about €400 a month after I’d paid my rent, I used to have one proper meal a day around 5pm. I’d eat pasta, or potatoes, but it’s hard to study or work if you are hungry and always thinking about where the next meal will come from.”

Derambarsh started his campaign by collecting and distributing unwanted food from his local supermarket. “Every day we’d help around 100 people. Half would be single mothers with several children, pensioners or public workers on low salaries, the other half would be those living on the streets or in shelters,” he said.

Derambarsh is planning to table the issue – via the campaign group ONE, founded by U2 singer Bono – when the United Nations discusses its Millennium development goals to end poverty in September as well as at the G20 economic summit in Turkey in November and the COP21 environment conference in Paris in December.

An estimated 7.1m tonnes of food is binned in France each year – 67% of it by consumers, 15% by restaurants and 11% by shops. The figure for food waste across the EU is 89mtonnes while an estimated 1.3bn tonnes are wasted worldwide.

German woman, 65 and mother of 13, has quadruplets

Yahoo – AFP, Yannick Pasquet, 23 may 2015

The three boys and one girl were born premature at 26 weeks in a Berlin

hospital (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

Berlin (AFP) - A 65-year-old German woman, who already has 13 children, has given birth to quadruplets after undergoing an artificial insemination procedure in Ukraine, RTL television reported early on Saturday.

Annegret Raunigk had three boys, named Dries, Bence and Fjonn, and one girl, Neeta, who were born premature at 26 weeks in a Berlin hospital but have "good chances of surviving," according to RTL.

"However, the babies, in comparison with a normal birth in the 40th week, are not completely developed, so eventual complications can't be ruled out," said the report.

Their mother lives in Berlin and is an English and Russian teacher who is close to retirement. In addition to her children, she is grandmother to seven.

RTL said the new arrivals make her the world's oldest mother of quadruplets.

She became pregnant after undergoing several artificial insemination procedures in Ukraine, said RTL.

The channel has negotiated exclusive rights to the story and has followed the build-up to the births, although it says no filming was done in the hospital where the babies were born.

Raunigk made headlines in April when the German press first reported that her latest artificial insemination attempt had resulted in a quadruple pregnancy.

At the time, she said she decided to try to have another child because her youngest daughter, who is nine, wanted a little brother or sister, according to RTL.

Oldest daughter is 44

The Bild am Sonntag tabloid quoted Raunigk, whose oldest daughter is 44, recalling that it was "a shock" when the doctors first broke the news to her that she was expecting quadruplets.

"After the doctor discovered there were four, I had to give it some thought to begin with."

This photo taken in 2005 shows then 55-year-old Annegret Raunigk (1st row, 2ndL)

 with her children and grand-children being interviewed on Germany's RTL television

channel (AFP Photo/Jörg Carstensen)

But she did not consider reducing the number of embryos and said she had no reservations about the challenge facing her.

"I'm not actually afraid. I simply assume I'll remain healthy and fit. In matters of organisation I have enough experience, that's not new for me," she was quoted as saying in Bild.

Asked about moral doubts, RTL quoted her as asking: "How does one have to be at 65? One must apparently always fit some cliches which I find rather tiring.

"I think, one must decide that for oneself."

Raunigk made headlines 10 years ago too, when she gave birth to her 13th child, Lelia, at the age of 55.

That pregnancy was also the subject of an exclusive coverage deal with RTL, and Bild.

"At first, I only wanted one child," the tabloid quoted her as saying at the time. "Not all were planned. But then things happen. I'm not a planner but rather spontaneous. And children keep me young."

During an interview in April, Raunigk dismissed critics who said she was acting irresponsibly because she would be more than 70 years old when the quadruplets entered school.

"You can never know what will happen. Things can also happen to you when you're 20," she said, adding that it's up to each individual to decide when they become a parent.

Related Article:

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Lee/Kryon: In my psychotherapy practice, I am specializing in menopause and other women's life transition issues. I am trying to frame menopause as a step within the spiritual evolutionary process, perhaps even part of the female response to ascension. Can you help me with an explanation of what the process of menses means for my clients? And how is it that females seem to undergo this "reverse puberty" process in a more dramatic way than men do?

Answer: Again we say to you that you must remove the biological from the spiritual. Look at what the body does. It is geared to stop the engine of procreation so that the female will not be harmed. That's why it occurs at all. It is an engine of appropriateness related to age. It's also an old paradigm, however, since we teach that you can extend your life-span, and that also means bearing children longer with safety, if that is part of your life plan.

For a male, the evolutionary process is one where, since he does not give birth, his biology is not one that goes through anything in the birth process. Therefore age is unimportant to his health when it comes to producing the seeds, which he can do almost until death.

So the body is protecting the females from undue stress, and even from premature death - going through childbirth when the chemistry is not up to it. This should be seen as a blessing, and one that is honored.

However, now we tell you something that is more along the lines of your question. In females, sometimes the process isn't stopped for biological reasons at all, but spiritual ones! In males, sometimes the hormones of desire and performance are also seemingly prematurely stopped. Ever wonder why this might happen?

The reason? Sometimes shamans need to have some of the common distractions of earth eliminated so that their concentration can be focused more clearly on spiritual matters. Don't read anything into this. It's different for every Human Being, so there is no generality here. But you should know that this is often part of the process of "relief from the distraction of things that are no longer needed," given for spiritual enlightenment. Not for all, but for many. This is often why you perceive elders to be wiser. They don't have that set of very complex and demanding chemicals surging through their body, either giving them pain with each cycle, or the pain of desire without fulfillment, which has its own attributes of psychological frustration and distraction.

For the females: Think of these things as all related. What is it you need? Do you give permission for it? Is it appropriate in your contract? Then when it comes, talk to your cellular structure and replace the chemistry that needs to be there for your energy, and say good-bye to that which is leaving. Give ceremony around it. You may do all of this naturally, talking to your cells. They will respond, and create what is missing.

This is the new Human Being, taking control of their bodies, and speaking directly to their cells. Creating tissue and chemistry naturally, since the cellular structure of your body is "listening" to what you need, and is far more capable than any scientist has ever told you.

And this is the truth.

Philips signs extensive echography contract with Delft hospital

DutchNews.nl, May 18, 2015

Dutch electronics giant Philips on Monday announced the signing of a 15-year agreement to supply echography technology to the Reinier de Graaf hospital in Delft.

It is the biggest-ever contract Philips has signed for medical equipment in the Netherlands, and gives the hospital much faster access to this diagnostic tool. The partnership with Philips is expected to help the hospital optimise its operating results in the long-term. 

The contract, an extension to an existing agreement, deals with the replacement and maintenance of all the echography systems in the hospital. The new generation of echography equipment will be used to investigate the stomach area, in pregnancy tests and in the treatment of rheumatism.

The Reinier de Graaf hospital employs around 3,000 staff. As well as its main location in Delft, it has hospitals in Voorburg, Naaldwijk and The Hague-Ypenburg. 

Philips, which started life as a manufacturer of light bulbs, is sharpening its focus to concentrate on healthcare technology. 

Echography is a radiologic technique in which deep structures of the body are visualised by recording the reflections (echoes) of ultrasonic waves directed into the tissues.

Mozart-Loving Chickens May Answer Quest for Healthier Nugget

Jakarta Globe, Naveen Thukral & Gavin Maguire, May 17, 2015

Chickens bred with drug-free feed rest in their coop as lights are dimmed and
 classical music by Mozart is being played in the background at Kee Song Brothers'
 drug-free poultry farm in Yong Peng, in Malaysia's southern state of Johor
April 16, 2015. (Reuters Photo/Edgar Su)

Yong Peng, Malaysia. In barns filled with classical music and lighting that changes to match the hues outside, rows of chickens are fed a diet rich in probiotics, a regimen designed to remove the need for the drugs and chemicals that have tainted the global food chain.

As food giants face growing pressure to offer healthier produce, Southeast Asian poultry firm Kee Song Group says its use of “good” bacteria in feed and water means it can meet one the industry’s biggest challenges: how to mass produce drug and hormone-free poultry at a reasonable price.

A series of scandals in the last few years —from melamine-tainted milk powder in China, horse meat supplied as beef in Europe and growth drugs causing lameness in US cattle — has triggered a consumer backlash over food standards and safety.

Recently, Tyson Foods pledged to eliminate the use of human antibiotics in chicken by 2017, one of the most aggressive timetables yet by a US poultry firm.

The top American poultry producer, which supplies fast-food chains such as McDonald’s, is among a number of groups globally incorporating probiotics into feed.

“For meat producers, reputation risks are becoming stronger driving companies to focus on safe ingredients specially in Europe and the United States,” said Pawan Kumar, director for food and agricultural research at Rabobank in Singapore.

Kee Song says the cost to produce drug-free chickens using probiotics is now only 10-12 percent more than using antibiotic-fed poultry. It sells these birds at a 30 percent premium in stores, far less than expensive free-range organic chicken.

The firm annually produces around 4 million drug-free birds at its Malaysian farms in Yong Peng, 125 km north-west of Singapore, and aims to expand sales to China and the West.

“Probiotics, either alone or in combination with essential oils and organic acids, are at the forefront of international approaches to replace antibiotics,” said Wayne Bryden, Professor of Animal Science at the University of Queensland.

Probiotics populate the gut with healthy bacteria in a bid to curb bad bacteria, while oils and organic acids are also often included in feed to aid digestion.

A team at the Australian university, partly funded by feed maker Ridley AgriProducts, have found in preliminary trials that using a probiotic can double the efficiency of use of protein from feed to boost weigh gain in livestock.

Superbugs

An estimated 80 percent of antibiotics used in the United States are administered to livestock with the use expected to surge by two thirds globally between 2010 and 2030.

Scientists are worried the practice could spur antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

McDonald’s has also pledged to eliminate chickens fed on human antibiotics at its US restaurants and is looking at similar steps in Asia.

“In Asia Pacific, we will be working with our supply partners and relevant experts to implement this enhanced measure,” a company spokesperson said via email.

While demand for healthier products is increasing fast in the West, some experts say that in parts of Asia customers will not be prepared to pay more for drug-free poultry, though China could be a promising market after high-profile food scares.

Mozart and blue lighting

In Kee Song’s Malaysian poultry farm, 20,000 chickens rest on saw dust in the dimly lit barns, with feed and water laced with probiotics being automatically pumped into feeding pans.

As well as playing Mozart, lighting is used in a bid to keep the birds tranquil with neon blue lighting turned on when the birds are taken for slaughter.

“Look at the environment, chickens stay healthy and happy here,” the firm’s Chairman Ong Kee Song told Reuters.

“Even the droppings don’t smell,” added Ong, who has been a vegetarian for 17 years after a stay at a Buddhist temple.

Traditional chicken farms are notorious for producing noxious fumes as well as loud noise from squawking birds.

Growth hormones mixed with feed can also produce oversized breasts and wings that underdeveloped legs struggle to support for more than a few steps.

Chia Tet Fatt, a molecular geneticist who previously was a professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University teamed up with Kee Song to produce the probiotic used, lactobacillus, and confirmed chickens were not fed any drugs or antibiotics.

Tan Chee Kiang, vice president of Charoen Pokphand, the world’s biggest animal feed miller, also said the feed it supplied to Kee Song was free of antibiotics.

By not using drugs, the poultry farms need to maintain stringent cleanliness measures to avoid the risk of infection and it takes three days more than conventionally produced chickens to attain a commercially viable weight of 1.8 to 2.0 kg.

As well as supplying supermarkets, Kee Song also sells to some restaurants in Singapore, including French restaurant Cocotte, where the chicken is used for a signature dish.

Reuters

Lawmaker Urges TNI to ‘Rethink’ TNI Virginity Tests

Jakarta Globe, Markus Junianto Sihaloho, May 17, 2015

Human rights groups have urged Indonesia to abolish invasive “virginity tests”
for female recruits. (Antara Photo/Didik Suhartono)

Jakarta. A lawmaker from the House of Representatives’ Commission I, which oversees defense, intelligence and security affairs, has urged the Indonesian military to rethink its invasive virginity tests for female recruits.

Tubagus Hasanuddin, a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said on Sunday there was no connection between virginity and morals.

“If a non-virgin is robbed of her right to join the military, we need to rethink it,” he said, adding he did not condone premarital sex.

Tubagus, a former high-ranked military official, said by law there were eight criteria that recruits had to meet to be accepted into the Indonesian Armed Forces, or TNI, but being a virgin was not one of them.

The so-called two-finger test, which the TNI requires female recruits to take to gauge their morality, has sparked international condemnation, but has been defended by top military brass.

The commander of Indonesia’s armed forces, Gen. Moeldoko, asked reporters on Saturday:

“So what’s the problem? It’s a good thing, so why criticize it?”

TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Fuad Basya, meanwhile, said it was an appropriate part of a medical checkup, used to determine the mental state of female recruits.

Human Rights Watch has demanded President Joko Widodo ask military hospitals immediately to stop administering the tests, which violate international human rights treaties that Indonesia has ratified.

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Five-day workweek to kick off next year under amended labor law

Want China Times, CNA 2015-05-17

Service personnel work at a restaurant in Taipei, April 21. (File photo/
Fang Chun-che)

Lin Por-fong. (Photo/ Hung His-lung)

An amendment to the Labor Standards Act in Taiwan cleared the Legislative Yuan Friday, paving the way for a five-day workweek and for working hours per week to be reduced to 40 hours.

The amendments will be put into force Jan. 1, 2016.

Under the current labor law, normal working hours per day cannot exceed eight hours and working hours per two weeks cannot exceed 84 hours. If employers are found to be in violation of the law, they will be subject to fines of between NT$20,000 (US$657) and NT$300,000 (US$9,860).

Also, employers cannot cut their workers' wages under the pretense of "adjusting" normal working hours, the revised law stipulates.

Under the current law, employers must prepare attendance books for workers and keep them for one year. The amended law states that the attendance records should be kept for five years and that employers will face fines of between NT$90,000 (US$2,985) and NT$450,000 (US$14,790) if found to be in violation.

The revised law also stipulates that the attendance records should note the hours and minutes worked. When a worker asks for a copy of his or her attendance record, employers cannot refuse them.

The amended law also allows workers to adjust their working hours according to their circumstances, meaning that employers will have to, based on the needs of workers who have to take care of their families, allow them flexibility to adjust their start and finishing times within a range of one hour without changing the normal working hours per day.

The Ministry of Labor hailed the amended law as a "new milestone" in 14 years, referring to the last amendment in 2001, when working hours were reduced to 84 hours per two weeks, saying that it puts Taiwan on a par with developed countries.

It will also help workers to maintain a balance between their work and home life, and help boost economic and social development, according to the ministry.

Taiwan fast food chains to take big hit if bird flu worsens in US: COA

Want China Times, CNA 2015-05-16

A fast food store in Taipei. (Photo/Yao Chih-ping)

Taiwanese fast food chains will take the biggest hit of all Taiwanese industries if an outbreak of bird flu in the United States worsens, as it could require a comprehensive ban on chicken imports from that country, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Friday.

The number of US states from which poultry products have been barred from entering Taiwan have gone up to 15 from nine due to the spread of bird flu there, said Chang Su-san, head of the council's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine.

The ban might expand to cover all states if the outbreak continues to spread, which will hit fast food restaurants the hardest, as they rely on imports for over half of the chicken they serve, said Wang Chung-shu, deputy head of the council's Department of Animal Industry.

Free range chicken accounts for the majority of the chicken produced in Taiwan, but fast food chains, caterers and food manufacturers prefer cheaper frozen imported chickens or locally produced battery chickens over locally produced free range birds.

Taiwan imports some 140,000 tonnes of chicken from abroad every year, mostly from the US, Wang said.

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Egg Farms Hit Hard as Bird Flu Affects Millions of Hens

Indonesia urged to stop military 'virginity tests'

Yahoo – AFP, 14 May 2015

Women joining the military in Indonesia must undergo an intrusive test to
see if their hymen is intact (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia faced calls Thursday to stop virginity tests for women seeking to join the military, with a leading rights group calling the practice "cruel, inhuman and degrading".

Human Rights Watch said interviews with female members of the military showed that the examination, normally conducted through a "two-finger test" to ensure the hymen is intact, was required of women joining the armed forces or planning to marry military officers.

The armed forces defended checking female applicants' virginity, saying that people of low morals could "damage the military", but denied that those planning to marry officers were also subject to the checks.

This is just the latest controversy around virginity tests in conservative, Muslim-majority Indonesia, with the national police facing criticism last year for forcing female applicants to undergo the examinations.

In a statement, HRW said the military "should immediately end the use of so-called virginity tests, which violate the prohibition of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international human rights law".

The group described the practice as gender-based violence and said it was "scientifically baseless" as a method of proving that a woman was a virgin.

HRW interviewed 11 recruits and officers' fiancees who had undergone the tests at military hospitals in several cities on the main island of Java. They also spoke to people involved in conducting the examinations.

Those tested described the practice as painful, embarrassing and traumatic.

"I felt humiliated. It was very tense," said one applicant tested in 2013, cited anonymously in HRW's report. She added that she was "shocked" that the doctor performing the test was a man.

"It’s against the rights of every woman," she said.

The test has been standard for decades and one retired air force officer, also cited anonymously, recalled having it done in 1984.

She said four years later she got married but could not make love to her husband for months "because of the trauma that I had with that 'virginity test'."

Military spokesman Fuad Basya defended the tests, saying they stop immoral women from entering the armed forces.

If a person has low morals, "then she cannot join the military. Because if she joins the military it will damage the military, which must handle a huge duty. They are responsible for the country's sovereignty, the unity of the territory, the safety of the nation," he told AFP.

The HRW report was timed to coincide with a meeting next week on the Indonesian island of Bali organised by the International Committee of Military Medicine, a body that fosters cooperation between medical services of armed forces worldwide.

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Use of Virginity Tests Must End, Activists Tell Joko