Tag: last-confirmed
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Japan culling 210,000 birds amid spreading avian flu
Japan has begun slaughtering about 210,000 farm birds in northern Hokkaido to contain another outbreak of a highly contagious strain of avian flu, an official said on Sunday. It is the fifth mass cull this winter in Japan with hundreds of officials working to prevent the spread of the virulent H5 strain, which has been…
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Heralding social, financial change, China aims blow at iron rice bowl
By David Stanway PINGDINGSHAN, China (Reuters) – China has ordered state firms to smash the decades-old system of providing cradle-to-grave welfare support, known as the country's “iron rice bowl”. At the heart of soot-covered Pingdingshan in central China is the Pingmei Shenma Group, a state coal conglomerate that dominates the economy, society and air of…