China yesterday reported a fourth death in a mounting scandal over toxic baby milk as it ratcheted up its response to the crisis with tighter inspections and the sacking of a city mayor.
The latest death came in the remote northwestern region of Xinjiang, where 86 people fell ill after consuming the milk product that contained the industrial chemical melamine, a notice on the local government’s Web site said.
It gave few details on the latest fatality, such as whether it was a baby.
PHOTO: AP
The Xinjiang fatality adds to three deaths confirmed on Wednesday by Health Minister Chen Zhu (陳竺), who also said more than 6,000 babies nationwide had fallen ill.
The three deaths were caused by kidney failure after drinking the milk powder containing melamine, and the scandal has caused panicked parents around the country to besiege hospitals seeking medical check-ups for their children. Melamine, a chemical normally used in plastics, was illegally mixed into milk products and made its way into the baby formula of 22 Chinese dairy firms, authorities said this week, months after babies first started falling ill.
The chemical was apparently introduced to give watered-down milk the appearance of having high protein levels.
The report of the latest death came as China announced stringent new measures aimed at containing the widening scandal.
The government said it would close loopholes that had allowed many companies to avoid scrutiny on safety, and step up testing of livestock feed to root out the use of melamine throughout the agricultural sector.
The new measures came a day after the country’s top leadership slammed supervision systems in an admission of official failures.
“[The scandal] has shown us that the dairy market is chaotic, flaws exist in supervision mechanisms, and supervision work is weak,” state media said on Wednesday night in summarizing the conclusions of a Cabinet meeting.
The government had earlier on Wednesday ordered nationwide checks for melamine on all dairy products.
As part of the stepped up supervision announced yesterday, the country’s top product-quality agency canceled an eight-year-old system under which food producers could gain exemption from safety inspections if they had a good quality record.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed