Deja SARS, Update

Another heads up on “pig fever” . The Chinese are cracking down on press coverage;

The disease Communist China insists is Streptococcosis Suis (�Pig fever�) �has now spread to 10 cities, with at least 200 infections and dozens of fatalities� (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times). The cadres have responded by going into full SARS-redux cover-up mode, with an order that �forbids local press from sending reporters to the infected areas or hospitals,� according to Ming Pao (cited by RFA). The World Health Organization has also been barred from examining the disease, which many believe could be a bird flu and at least one doctor diagnosed as Ebola (fourth item). Meanwhile, according to Boxun, the disease may have hit Shenzhen, the city next door to Hong Kong.

Previous post.
(That’s not the only E-Lobby item worth catching today, so keep scrolling – they’re sniffing around at Canadian energy projects from PetroKaz to Newfoundland hydropower.)

4 Replies to “Deja SARS, Update”

  1. The future:
    Economist fears global pandemic. $$$$$$$$$$$
    Excerpt:
    TORONTO (CP) – A major Canadian brokerage firm has added its voice to those warning of the potential global impact of an influenza pandemic, suggesting it could trigger a crisis similar to that of the Great Depression.
    Real estate values would be slashed, bankruptcies would soar and the insurance industry would be decimated, a newly released investor guide on avian influenza warns clients of BMO Nesbitt Burns.
    “It’s quite analogous to the Great Depression in many ways, although obviously caused by very different reasons,” co-author Sherry Cooper, chief economist of the firm and executive vice-president of the BMO Financial Group, said in an interview Tuesday.
    “We won’t have 30-per-cent unemployment because frankly, many people will die. And there will be excess demand for labour and yet, at the same time, it will absolutely crunch the economy worldwide.”
    A leading voice for pandemic preparedness said the report is evidence the financial and business sectors – which have been slow to twig to the implications of a flu pandemic – are finally realizing why public health and infectious disease experts have been sounding the alarm.
    http://www.rapp.org/url/?9YP4IAJL

  2. http://english.people.com.cn/200508/17/eng20050817_203008.html
    This has reached China!!! People’s Daily Online”
    Will this story hatch in Canada? Or is it another “China egg”.
    librano$$$$$$$$
    Canadian govt rebuffs claims new governor general supports Quebec independence
    Claims that newly-appointed Governor General Michaelle Jean supports Quebec sovereignty are untrue, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Tuesday.
    There have been allegations that Jean and her husband are sovereigntists, since Prime Minister Paul Martin announced she would be the next governor general.
    “(Jean and her husband Daniel Lafond) both chose to be citizens of Canada, to come here and to adopt our country as their own.” Scott Reid, chief spokesman for the prime minister told reporters.
    “Sadly, their belief in Canada has made them targets of a deliberate and orchestrated smear campaign by hard-line separatists.” he said.
    Jean has kept silent so far.
    Reports of Jean’s support for Quebec sovereignty largely come from a documentary made 12 years ago by her husband. Critics point to a scene where several people seated around a table raise their glasses to independence, including Jean.
    Some people, including several provincial premiers, have urged Jean to say how she voted in the 1995 referendum for Quebec independence.
    Analysts say Jean must comment on the controversy and make her views known, or risk a further decline in public opinion.
    Jean, 48, was a Haitian-born journalist who settled in Quebec after immigrating to Canada as a child. As Canada’s first black governor general, Jean will assume her duties on Sept. 27.

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