Fears that foot-and-mouth disease will cross the Channel prompted Britain's European partners on Tuesday to ban livestock markets throughout the EU in a move that will affect millions of animals.
The EU's powerful standing veterinary committee also agreed that every vehicle leaving British shores for continental Europe must have its tires disinfected.
The emergency measures were agreed at the end of a stormy eight-hour meeting in Brussels which heard repeated assurances from the UK's deputy chief veterinary officer, Richard Cawthorne, that the disease is nearing its peak in Britain.
Although there has not been a single confirmed case in mainland Europe, scares in France, Belgium and Denmark have sown panic. Seven new cases were confirmed in the UK yesterday, bringing the total to 81.
Officials claimed Italian and German representatives at yesterday's meeting were verging on the hysterical, sometimes demanding measures so extreme that they would have crippled Europe's farmers and served no useful purpose.
Veterinary officers finally voted to extend a ban on exports of British meat and livestock products, due to expire tomorrow, until March 27. They also voted to ban all livestock markets throughout the EU until March 27.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique