China reports bird flu outbreak

 

BEIJING: Authorities in China's remote northwestern region of Xinjiang have culled more than 150,000 chickens following an outbreak of bird flu, officials said.

The outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian flu initially killed 1,600 chickens and sickened about 5,500, the agriculture ministry said late Monday.

In an effort to contain the disease, agricultural authorities quarantined the area and culled 156,439 chickens, according to the ministry.

The outbreak occurred on June 20 but was only confirmed as H5N1 bird flu on Monday, it said.

The ministry and state press did not specify exactly where the outbreak occurred, but said it happened at a farm run by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, described by state media as a semi-military government organisation of about 2.5 million people.

Xinjiang is a vast region bordering Central Asia and home to a population of about nine million ethnic Uighurs, a largely Muslim and Turkic speaking people.

China is considered one of the nations most at risk of bird flu epidemics because it has the world's biggest poultry population and many chickens in rural areas are kept close to humans.

The last reported outbreak in mainland China was in April, when about 95,000 chickens were killed in the northern region of Ningxia.

But last month a boy in the southern territory of Hong Kong was diagnosed with bird flu, the first human case there in 18 months. He lived in the neighbouring mainland province of Guangdong.

Samsung tablet hard to swallow in US

SAN JOSE: A U.S. judge on Monday rejected a request by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. to lift a ban on U.S. sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1, a tablet computer that competes with Apple Inc.'s iPad.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, granted Apple's request to halt sales of the tablet, which runs on Google Inc's Android, giving the iPhone maker a significant win in the tablet patent wars.

Samsung had asked the court to stay the injunction pending resolution of an appeal.

The district court is not the last chance for Samsung to get the injunction lifted. Samsung has also appealed to a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, which has exclusive jurisdiction over intellectual property disputes.

Samsung is also fighting an injunction issued by Koh on Friday against the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus phone.

Apple and Samsung, the world's largest consumer electronics corporations, are waging legal war in several countries, accusing each other of patent violations as they vie for supremacy in a fast-growing market for mobile devices.

Apple sold 13.6 million iPads in January-March to control 63 percent of the global tablet market, according to research from Display Search. Samsung sold 1.6 million tablets, giving it 7.5 percent of the market.

Apple and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case is U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846.

Apple scores second legal win vs Samsung

SAN JOSE, California: A U.S. judge on Friday granted Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) request for a pre-trial injunction against the sale of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's (005930.KS) Galaxy Nexus phone, handing the iPhone maker its second legal victory against Samsung in a week.

Apple and Samsung, the world's largest consumer electronics corporations, are waging legal war in several countries, accusing each other of patent violations as they vie for supremacy in a fast-growing market for mobile devices.

Friday's decision, by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, comes days after she also slapped a pre-trial ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, a tablet computer that runs on Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android and goes toe-to-toe with the iPad.

The back-to-back triumphs - significant because pre-trial injunctions are rarely granted - meant Apple had a better week in court than last week, when Chicago federal court judge Richard Posner ruled the iPhone maker could not pursue an injunction against Google's Motorola Mobility, effectively ending that case.

"Apple has made a clear showing that, in the absence of a preliminary injunction, it is likely to lose substantial market share in the smartphone market and to lose substantial downstream sales of future smartphone purchases and tag-along products," Judge Koh said in Friday's ruling.

Koh scheduled a hearing on Monday to consider whether to put the Galaxy Nexus injunction on hold pending appeal. And she said in court that she might rule on Sunday whether or to similarly put on hold the earlier injunction on the Galaxy Tab.

Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as it seeks to limit the growth of Google's Android system, the world's most-used mobile operating platform. Opponents of Apple say it is using patents too aggressively in a bid to stamp out competition.

Spokeswoman Kristin Huguet reiterated her previous statement, accusing Samsung of copying the look and feel of its products.

Samsung said in a statement that it is "disappointed" in the decision. "We will take all available measures, including legal action, to ensure the Galaxy Nexus remains available to consumers," the statement added

As a condition of the injunction, Apple was ordered to post a bond of more than $95 million, to secure payment of damages sustained by Samsung should the injunction be deemed a wrongful decision later. The order shall become effective upon posting of the bond.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 12-00630.

What Happens In An Internet Minute

What Happens In An Internet Minute

Over 40 Thousand Rockets blasting off from the wall of the Geffen(Los Angeles, USA)

Over 40,000 rockets blasting off from the wall of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA.

On Saturday April 7, artist Cai Guo-Qiang marked the opening of his exhibition with "Mystery Circle: Explosion Event for The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles"; a site-specific work created for MOCA.

CAI GUO-QIANG: SKY LADDER
On view April 8, 2012--JULY 30, 2012

Inside Foxconn: Exclusive look at how an iPad is made

Deadly Facts About Death

'Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives'. - A. Sachs

1. Each year about 56 million people die around the world.

2. 35 million of theses deaths are due to non-communicable diseases

3. 17.5 million deaths occur from cardiovascular or heart diseases.

4. 7.6 million deaths are due to cancer

5. 7.1 million people deaths are related to high blood pressure.

6. 4.4 million succumb to high levels of cholesterol.

7. 2.6 million deaths occur due to Obesity and its related problems like developing diabetes or high blood pressure.

8. Around 1 million people die from diabetes.

9. 465,000 women died due to breast cancer in 2007

10. 20,000 people in the world are daily dying due to cancer.