Saturday/Sunday 24 & 25th August 2013
Chinese manufacturing growing as Europe recovery signs strengthening
Chinese manufacturing resumed expansion this month after shrinking the most in almost a year in July and output at European factories and services companies improved, a sign the global recovery is strengthening.
A preliminary purchasing managers index for China by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics rose to 50.1 from 47.7, exceeding all 16 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. Manufacturing (PMITMEZ) and services in the euro area also grew more than economists forecast in August, led by Germany.
A factory worker assembles lithium ion batteries at the China BAK Battery Inc. facility in Tianjin. Photographer: Keith Bedford/Bloomberg
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) — Freya Beamish, Hong Kong-based economist with Lombard Street Research, talks about China’s economy. She speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television’s “On the Move.” (Source: Bloomberg)
China’s manufacturing, fueled by domestic demand after Premier Li Keqiang rolled out measures to support growth, indicates the world’s second-biggest economy is strengthening after a two-quarter slowdown. Global central bankers meet this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to discuss the global economy as the Federal Reserve considers winding down the pace of monthly stimulus, a prospect that’s already roiled financial markets.
“We expect the euro-zone economy to continue its recovery in the remainder of this year, but it will likely be a slow and uneven process,” said Martin van Vliet, an economist at ING Bank NV in Amsterdam. “The recent slowdown in some key emerging economies could be an important headwind to euro-zone export growth. In that regard, it is encouraging to see that the Chinese PMI saw a sharp rebound.”
The 2.4-point jump in the China measure was the biggest gain since August 2010, when the gauge rose 2.5 points to 51.9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Domestic demand is strong enough to support 7.5 percent growth in 2013,” said Ken Peng, senior economist at BNP Paribas SA in Beijing. “Almost all of China’s economic data since July has shown improvements and suggests a rebound is underway.”
German Support
In the euro area, the services index advanced to 51 in August from 49.8 in July, London-based Markit said. Economists forecast an increase to 50.2, according to the median of 32 estimates. The factory gauge indicated expansion for a second month in August, rising to 51.3 from 50.3. Acomposite index covering both industries increased to 51.7 from 50.5.
The manufacturing index for Germany, Europe’s largest economy, soared to a 25-month high of 52, while the services gauge reached a six-month high of 52.4.
European shares rose, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index adding adding 0.8 percent as of 10:55 a.m. London time. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.9 percent. The yield on German 10-year bonds climbed six basis points to 1.935 percent, the highest since March 2012.
Gross domestic product in the euro region rose 0.3 percent in the three months through June after six quarterly contractions. The expansion was led by the region’s two biggest economies,Germany and France. Italy and Spain remained in recession.
Fed Tapering
U.S. stock-index futures advanced today, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rebound from a six-week low. The S&P fell 0.6 percent yesterday as minutes from the Fed’s July meeting showed officials support stimulus cuts this year if the economy improves.
“A few members emphasized the importance of being patient and evaluating additional information on the economy before deciding on any changes to the pace of asset purchases,” the minutes show. “Almost all participants confirmed that they were broadly comfortable” with the committee moderating “the pace of its securities purchases later this year.”
The Fed, currently buying $85 billion a month in bonds, will probably reduce its purchases in September, according to 65 percent of 48 economists in an Aug. 9-13 Bloomberg survey.
Releases in the U.S. today include initial jobless claims, house-price numbers and the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index.
Concerns Recede
The main cause of China’s improved performance is increased confidence as Communist Party leaders indicate a commitment to sustaining growth and concerns recede after aninterbank lending squeeze in June, said Lu Ting, head of Greater China economics at Bank of America Corp. in Hong Kong.
China will reach the government’s 7.5 percent growth target this year and maintain that pace in 2014, a Bloomberg News survey of economists indicates.
HSBC’s PMI “confirms that the economy has stabilized in the short term and downside risks for the second half have declined,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist for Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong. Zhang sees “upside risks” to his forecast of 7.4 percent growth this quarter.
Deutsche Bank AG today raised its estimate for economic expansion in the July-September period to 7.7 percent from 7.5 percent and its fourth-quarter forecast to 7.8 percent from 7.7 percent.
The preliminary China reading is based on about 85 percent to 90 percent of responses to surveys sent to more than 420 manufacturers. The final report is due Sept. 2. The National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing will release their own survey on Sept. 1.
Infrastructure Support
The biggest contribution to the gain in today’s PMI reading was from production and new orders, said Yao Wei, China economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong. “Domestic demand is being driven by recovery in the property sector” while government support for infrastructure will start to show an effect in the next two months, she said.
“The problem is whether such stimulus is sustainable,” she said. “We are still relying on investment for growth and there will be downside risks beyond the third quarter.”
Investors are looking ahead to a meeting later this year where the Communist Party’s new leaders may unveil a blueprint for policy measures to sustain growth in coming years as higher labor costs and a shrinking working-age population weigh on the pace of expansion.
’Broadly Comfortable’
Signs that China is strengthening may help to counter investor pessimism toward emerging economies that has been fueled by the Fed’s indications it may rein in stimulus.
Emerging-market stocks are set for the biggest weekly decline since June 21 on concern capital outflows will accelerate. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index has dropped 4.3 percent this week.
Investors pulled $7.6 billion out of emerging-market funds in the first seven months of this year, while $155.6 billion poured into developed-market equity exchange-traded products, according to BlackRock Investment Institute. The Indian rupee fell to a record low this week, Thailand is in recession and Indonesian stocks have slumped about 20 percent since their peak.Hospitals ‘not yet obliged’ to report number of abortions
Irish Hospitals ‘not yet obliged’ to report number of abortions
Irish Hospitals are not yet obliged to report terminations of pregnancy to save the life of a woman because new abortion legislation is still not in operation.
The Department of Health said yesterday that although the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act was signed into law on July 30 it was not yet active.
Operational issues include drawing up a panel of psychiatrists and obstetricians who would be willing to assess if a woman who is suicidal and seeking to end her pregnancy should be granted an abortion.
A panel is also needed to have doctors who are willing to review cases where a woman’s request for an abortion under the terms of the legislation is initially turned down.
The clarification from the department came after it was reported that a pregnant woman whose life was in danger had her pregnancy terminated in the National Maternity Hospital in Holles St in recent weeks.
The woman is believed to have been diagnosed with sepsis, a serious infection, which if left untreated would put her at real and substantial risk of death.
However, the breach of patient confidentiality has led to a major investigation by the hospital’s clinical director and leading obstetrician Dr Peter Boylan, who described it as “outrageous”.
UNACCEPTABLE
He said the leaking of the details was “absolutely unacceptable, unfair and unethical, and was a severe breach of patient confidentiality”.
He added: “Patients will get the care they deserve, and we will not let any woman die in Holles Street, we will give her the appropriate care. But we will not have her details splashed around the newspapers.
“To give the exact clinical details of a patient to a member of the press is absolutely unethical behaviour by any medical personnel, and if it’s a doctor, then this sort of transgression could well end up before the Medical Council.”
When the legislation is active, hospitals will be obliged to report each case where a termination takes place to the Department of Health, which will produce an annual report.
Dr Boylan said countrywide figures on the number of terminations carried out under the new legislation, where the mother’s life was deemed to be at risk, would be published each year by the Department of Health.
A departmental spokeswoman said the doctors on review panels would also need administrative facilities.
The operational issues would be addressed by the HSE, she said. The department was unable to say what would happen if a suicidal pregnant woman sought an abortion now. “In order to respect patient confidentiality”, the department would be making no further comment, she added.
The Medical Council also said it had yet to draw up new guidelines arising out of the legislation. A spokeswoman said that documentation was being compiled and a new Medical Council, which started its term in June, would consider revising the existing guidelines.
The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists also said it was participating in a working group that would draft guidelines on the implementation of the legislation. The group was established by the Department of Health.
A spokeswoman for Galway University Hospital, where Savita Halappanavarsuffered a miscarriage and died of septicaemia last year, said that as the legislation had not come into operation hospitals were therefore not yet required to record the number of terminations performed.
Scientology church insider says they attempted to recruit Bono and Brad Pitt to the fold
Celebrities used as a lure to attract non-famous followers author claims
Irish rocker Bono and film star Brad Pitt were courted by Scientology’s top brass in the hope they’d join the controversial church, an author has claimed.
According to the Daily Mail, in her tell all new book “Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape,” Jenna Miscavige Hill, 29, claims that Irish rocker Bono was once audited by the church.
‘There’s a celebrity strategy and they’re targeted for their influence, not their money,’ Hill claimed, ‘They know people are obsessed with celebrities so will get moreinterested in Scientology.’
Miscavige Hill, the niece of the Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the religion in 2005 and has since become one of its most outspoken critics. Now she says that courting celebrities is an aim of the church.
‘I think that celebrities are more inclined to be egocentric and Scientology caters for that – you’re your own God. They’re probably being told that all the time.
‘That’s why someone like Bono would fit the bill perfectly as so many people know him.
‘I heard he was receiving Scientology auditing and was at one of the Celebrity Centre Galas. Why would he need auditing? Scientology markets itself to everyone, it can deal with everything from marital problems to public speaking. He’s a human, so he still needs those things.’
Hill also claims screen star Brad Pitt was courted by the church in the 90s, going through its drug detoxification program while dating actress and well-known Scientology member Juliette Lewis.
‘I know he was receiving Scientology auditing and was at one of the Celebrity Centre Galas,’ Hill said.
As the daughter of David Miscavige’s brother Ron, Hill grew up in the church and has written an explosive memoir on time on the inside.
Hill made her escape from the church after 21 years, and Bono’s alleged courting by the organization is an eye popping revelation.
But high profile celebrity church members can cause the organization as much trouble as it does opportunity. Last month actress Leah Remini made international headlines by fleeing the church. The actress then shone a dramatic spotlight on the church by filing a missing persons report this year on Miscavige’s wife Shelly, who hasn’t been seen publicly in years.
Meanwhile Remini has reportedly been offered millions of dollars for a tell-all book on her many years with the church.
Redhead people genetically prone to skin Cancer development
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center discovered that the same genetic mutation causing the person to have red hair also plays a certain role in cancer development. The genetic mutation has been identified as a mutation on the gene receptor known as melanocortin-1 (MC1R).
It has been known before that those who had been born with red hair also have a greater risk of the skin cancer known as melanoma. Now, scientists have found a better explanation to this phenomenon.
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center discovered that the same genetic mutation causing the person to have red hair also plays a certain role in cancer development. The genetic mutation has been identified as a mutation on the gene receptor known as melanocortin-1 (MC1R).
When a red-haired person gets exposed to UV radiation, the gene mutation appears to promote a signaling pathway which is known to contribute to cancer development. Dubbed as PI3K/Akt, the signaling pathway has been connected with other forms of cancer attacking the breast, ovary, and lungs.
The study published in the Molecular Cell journal is based on serious work on mice and cell cultures. By nature, the MC1R gene receptor connects with PTEN, a tumor-suppressing gene, thereby stopping an increased signaling to the cancer-causing PI3K/Akt pathway. However, for those who have red hair combined with the MC1R gene mutation, the gene receptor of the MC1R seems not to possess a protective mechanism to thwart cancer.
Moreover, researchers also found out that an increased activity coming from the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway tend to increase proliferation of the cells and had shown some interaction with a gene mutation which is believed to be the key in most melanoma cases.
Investigator and Professor Wenyi Wei, Ph.D, from the Department of Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess and the Harvard Medical School told the Huffington Post that their study was able to provide the molecular mechanism that explains why individuals born with red hair while harboring MC1R mutations are much more prone to UV-triggered skin damage than those who have darker skin tones. This result to a 10 to 100 fold higher chances of melanoma.
Donkey Derby Day at Mullaghmore Co Sligo
A day of high frolics and fun not to mention the odd spill or two in Co Sligo
“ There’s the tight winding roads, “ There’s the tight winding roads, With the scenes, There’s the harbour and sunsets, As you laze on the green, There’s the pier and the sand dunes, Sweeping down to the shore, There’s the walk to the Castle, Mullaghmore, Mullahgmore. ”
Oh and don’t forget the Donkey Derby. The last Classic of the domestic Flat season may be scheduled for the Curraghnext month, but the equine talent on show at Mullaghmore at the weekend was just as important to the colourful young jockeys and their anxious trainers taking part.
The highlight of summer for many of the Co Sligo locals is the “All Ireland Donkey Derby”, which attracted entries and riders from all over the country as they competed for the bragging rights as well as a first prize of €300 . All of the proceeds from the event went directly to charity , with the North West Hospice, Sligo Alzheimer unit and a project in Lusaka, Zambia the main beneficiaries.
It was a day of high frolics and fun not to mention the odd spill or two as, in addition to the racing – which was staged on the scenic green in front of the 185-year-old stone harbour – there was children’s entertainments, craft stalls, a dog show and live music. It seems Donkey Derbies are great fundraisers as well as providing endless enjoyment for the participants and spectators.
The large crowd was entertained by numerous races, each with six donkeys taking part. Competition was fierce with Limerick rider rider Gary Noonan finishing as top jockey with victory on the Robbie Cronin-owned donkey Lynchs Gang. The possibility of riders catching their feet in stirrups and being dragged along should they fall off means saddles are not used, making the achievements of these young riders in the 150-yard dashes even more impressive.
But young Noonan preferred to play down his efforts, saying you’re only as good as the donkey you ride. And the antics of our four-legged friends caused many a chuckle and thanks to some accommodating locals and stewards were spared any serious injuries.
Mercifully none of the riders – jockeys must weigh 8st or under – were hurt either, with the only dent in their prides being a few sore bums. But perhaps just as amusing as the donkeys was the commentary of local man Patsy Smith, who kept the crowds entertained with his humorous take on some hair-raising heats as well as keeping the public informed of the All-Ireland semi-final between Mayo and Tyrone.
Although fun is the main theme of these events, safety is of paramount importance , with each rider wearing a BS-approved and correctly-fitting helmet. Organiser of the event Bridie Watters said jockeys must follow strict rules in order to participate.
“We must stress that each rider must wear an approved helmet as well as getting permission from the donkey owners to take part. Although we have never experienced any serious injuries, these donkeys pack some kick.”
Ms Watters has seen the event grow in popularity since its first staging in 1999. “We are delighted with how popular it’s become, not just with the locals, but the wider community in Sligo. We have a great equine tradition in these parts and it’s a bonus that the event attracts extra business to the area. I think people are surprised when they see the beauty of Mullaghmore.”
It’s hard to know what Shrek might have made of Donkey but the ogre would certainly have been impressed by the unrivalled green scenery of one of Sligo’s gems.
Beetles living in Cows may neutralize Methane gas emissions
Cattles are said to be capable of releasing a huge amount of methane into the atmosphere by way of their natural digestive system which largely contributes to anthropogenic greenhouse gases that eventually trigger global warming. Though much of the methane is released through flatulence and burping, a percentage of this methane comes from cow pats which, according to a latest study, may be partially neutralized by beetles that are found thriving in these dung piles.
Cattles are said to be capable of releasing a huge amount of methane into the atmosphere by way of their natural digestive system which largely contributes to anthropogenic greenhouse gases that eventually trigger global warming. Though much of the methane is released through flatulence and burping, a percentage of this methane comes from cow pats which, according to a latest study, may be partially neutralized by beetles that are found thriving in these dung piles.
Atte Penttila, lead author of the study from the University of Helsinki, wrote that cow pats are the primary source of food for a huge number of organisms. In fact, there could be as many species of dung-dependent beetles as there are species of birds on Earth.
Researchers also explained that understanding how these beetles help in reducing methane emissions connected to cattle production is greatly relevant when determining the total climatic effects of beef farming and dairy.
Much of the impact exerted by beetles occurs when they simply do some dung digging. Generally speaking, methane is born during anaerobic conditions. The tunneling activities of the beetles seem to expose the cow pats. This creates a major impact on how carbon is released from the pats and then goes straight into the atmosphere.
Tomas Roslin, head of the research committee, explains that in addition to the amount of carbon that is released, it is also important to consider the type of form it is released in. If such carbon is initially taken up by plants which use it as carbon dioxide, then emitted in an unchanged form by the cows that eat the plants, the effect of plants going through the cattle will be minimal in terms of global warming. However, there is a good reason to worry if the same carbon is changed from carbon dioxide into methane since it will have a bigger impact on the climate.
Researcher Eleanor Slade added that after examining dung beetles in Oxford and Helsinki, there isn’t a lot of good news to announce so far. As the current worldwide meat consumption surges, there is the reality that the number of dung beetle species had declined dramatically which eventually lead to an increase in the overall emissions that come from cattle herding.
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