Showing posts with label The Guardian World News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Guardian World News. Show all posts

Prime minister says people have failed to appreciate 'thickness of glass ceiling she broke through'


David Cameron has paid tribute to Margaret Thatcher as a remarkable leader who "defined and overcame the challenges of the age" and who had earned her place alongside David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee in the pantheon of great British prime ministers.


Not only had she won three elections and served longer than any other prime minister for more than 150 years, he told the Commons, she had also become "our first and, so far, our only female prime minister".


Cameron said people sometimes failed to appreciate the "thickness of the glass ceiling she broke through" as the daughter of a Lincolnshire grocer, and forgot that she had spent her whole premiership under direct, personal threat from the IRA, losing two of her closest friends, Airey Neave and Ian Gow, to terrorism.


Despite being "only inches away from death" when the IRA bombed the Grand hotel in Brighton in 1984, said Cameron, it was entirely characteristic of Thatcher that she "shook off the dust" and gave a great speech about the need for democracy to stand up to terrorism.


She was, he added, a woman of "great contrasts"; formidable in public and yet "faultlessly kind" to her staff and devoted to her family.


"She was a remarkable type of leader," he said, "who said very clearly, 'I'm not a consensus politician but a conviction politician.'"


Among her simple philosophical watchwords, said the prime minister, were such phrases as "sound money", "strong defence" and "liberty under the rule of law".


He also spoke of her love for, and commitment to, debate in the House of Commons, and remembered the fear he felt when tasked with helping her prepare for prime minister's questions as a young Tory researcher in the 1980s. He recalled a junior minister rushing to a meeting and being told: "Rome wasn't built in a day." Yes, replied the minister, "but Margaret Thatcher wasn't the foreman on that job".


Cameron also reminded the house that things would have been very different had the then Margaret Roberts not been turned down for a job at ICI because she was "headstrong, obstinate and dangerously opinionated". All of those qualities, he said, he been put to use for the benefit of the country, and had helped her break the state's grip on many areas of British life in the 1980s.


Nor, he added, was she one "to shy away from the fight": her commitment to democracy and freedom, said Cameron, had helped bring freedom to Kuwait, to those parts of central and eastern Europe that were once "trapped behind the iron curtain", and, of course, to the Falkland Islands.


At her funeral next week, said the prime minister, Thatcher's coffin would be "draped with the flag that she loved … in a fitting salute to a great prime minister".


He concluded: "Let this be her epitaph: she made the country great again."


Responding, the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said that at every stage in her life, Thatcher "broke the mould".


He said: "Having broken so many conventions as a woman, it can't be a coincidence that she was someone who in so many other areas of life was willing to take on the established orthodoxies.


"Margaret Thatcher's ability to overcome every obstacle in her path is just one measure of her personal strength. And that takes me to her style of politics.


"You can disagree with Margaret Thatcher. But it is important to understand the kind of political leader she was. What was unusual was that she sought to be rooted in people's daily lives but she also believed that ideology mattered.


"Not for her the contempt sometimes heaped on ideas and new thinking in political life.


"And while she never would have claimed to be, or wanted to be seen as, an intellectual, she believed, and she showed, that ideas matter in politics."


Miliband set out areas where he agreed with Thatcher – in recognising the nation's aspiration, in economic reform, in foreign policy and particularly the Falklands and in her understanding about climate change.


"But it would be dishonest and not in keeping with the principles that Margaret Thatcher stood for, even on this day, not to be open with this house about the strong opinions and the deep divisions there were, and are, over what she did," he went on.


"In mining areas, like the one I represent, communities felt angry and abandoned. Gay and lesbian people felt stigmatised by measures like section 28, which today's Conservative party has rightly repudiated."


Miliband concluded: "Whatever your view of her, Margaret Thatcher was a unique and towering figure. I disagree with much of what she did. But I respect what her death means to the many, many people who admired her. And I honour her personal achievements.


"On previous occasions, we have come to this house to remember the extraordinary prime ministers who have served our nation. Today, we also remember a prime minister who defined her age."







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08:20

Plans confirms White House will ask for cuts to social security and Medicare but close tax loopholes for top earners. Follow it live here














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08:06

Andrew Sparrow's rolling coverage of MPs and peers paying tribute to Lady Thatcher, as well as further reaction to her death and plans for her funeral














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08:06

Edwards co-developed technique that has helped bring more than 4 million children into the world


Sir Robert Edwards, whose pioneering IVF technique has helped bring more than 4 million children into the world, has died aged 87, Cambridge University has announced.


"It is with deep sadness that the family announces that Professor Sir Robert Edwards, Nobel prizewinner, scientist and co-pioneer of IVF, passed away peacefully in his sleep on 10th April 2013 after a long illness," the university said in a statement on Wednesday.


"He will be greatly missed by family, friends and colleagues. "


In the late 1970s, Edwards and Dr Patrick Steptoe became famous after developing the technique of in vitro fertilisation, which resulted in the birth of Louise Brown – the world's first test tube baby – in 1978.


Their work won them the gratitude of many millions of people, but was criticised by the Vatican.


Edwards, who started his work on fertilisation in 1955, won the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine in 2010 "for the development of in vitro fertilisation". A year later, he was knighted for "services to human reproductive biology".


Martin Johnson, professor of reproductive science at the University of Cambridge – and Edwards' first graduate student – said: "Bob Edwards was a remarkable man who changed the lives of so many people. He was not only a visionary in his science but also in his communication to the wider public about matters scientific in which he was a great pioneer.


"He will be greatly missed by his colleagues, students, his family and all the many people he has helped to have children."


Mike Macnamee, chief executive of Bourn Hall, the IVF clinic that Steptoe and Edwards co-founded, said: "Bob Edwards is one of our greatest scientists. His inspirational work in the early 60s led to a breakthrough that has enhanced the lives of millions of people worldwide. He is held in great affection by everyone who has worked with him and was treated by him.


"For me personally Bob was a great mentor, colleague and friend. It was a privilege to work with him and his passing is a great loss to us all."






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08:06

One in 50 horses slaughtered for food has tested positive for phenylbutazone since introduction of new testing regime


Twenty-two horses slaughtered for food at UK abattoirs since the end of January – one in 50 of the total – have tested positive for the veterinary painkiller phenylbutazone – commonly known as bute, the Food Standards Agency(FSA) has revealed.


In all, 1,042 horses have been tested since the new regime of 100% testing was introduced. The government says the bute presents a very low risk to human health. Most of the positive tests have been found since mid-February, when ministers said no carcasses could leave abattoirs until tests had proved they are clear of the drug.


The figures were released to the Guardian after it emerged that supermarket Asda was recalling a range of budget corned beef because "very low levels of bute" had been found in a product that had previously had traces of horsemeat.


The latest developments in the contamination scandal are likely to fuel concerns that the crisis is not over, even though the corned beef is the only product so far to have tested positive for bute having previously been found to contain more than 1% equine contamination. Forty-four products have so far been named in industry tests.


Sales of frozen burgers and ready meals continued to slump last month. Frozen burger sales slid 32% in the four weeks to March 17, compared with the same period a year before, according to Kantar Worldpanel. That's a slight improvement from the 43% slump recorded in February. Frozen ready meals continued to drop by 12% in March, the same pace as February.


The extra precautions on releasing carcasses after slaughter were introduced after David Heath, the food and agriculture minister, revealed that six out of eight carcasses tested in the first weeks of the scheme had tested positive and six may have entered food in France. He called the presence of bute "unacceptable" and said anyone found to have broken the law would be dealt with.


The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on Tuesday: "Horse owners are legally responsible for keeping a passport that records the veterinary medicines it has received. Obtaining and using a fraudulent passport is an offence and could lead to a fine of up to £5,000."


Mary Creagh, the shadow environment secretary, said tougher rules must be imposed on the food industry.


"A lot of these products are long-life or frozen so the stick around in people's cupboards and freezers for up to a year. Every product found to be contaminated with horsemeat from the beginning of the scandal should be recalled and we should be absolutely clear about what those products are."


Creagh said the FSA should have publicised a central list of affected products that could be easily accessed by worried shoppers. "Some supermarkets have been clear about it and some have not."


Richard Lloyd, the executive director of Which?, said the continuing scandal exposed the need for urgent changes to the way food fraud was detected and standards enforced.


"These serious failings must be put right if consumers are to feel fully confident in the food they are buying once more.


"Ministers must ensure that everyone involved, including their own departments, the FSA, the food industry and local authorities, are crystal clear about their responsibility to protect consumers and are properly equipped to do so."


Tesco's and Asda's websites name all the products they have tested and those which have failed but several rivals are much more coy about the number of items that have been withdrawn from sale or even found to contain horsemeat.


Discount chain Aldi's website, for example, gives a high profile to information about its use of British meat but fails to mention that two of its frozen ready meals were found to contain horsemeat. The Co-operative's website, gives prominence to a piece boasting that "our latest tests on all our own-brand minced beef products have been confirmed as containing beef and only beef".


The fact that it found horsemeat in some of its own-label frozen burgers, however, is hidden away at the bottom of a press release entitled: "Meat testing – a few words of reassurance."








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08:06

Mohammed Rizwan, 34, and Bahader Ali, 29, from Sparkbrook, admit at Woolwich crown court to preparing acts of terrorism


Two members of a gang who planned terrorist atrocities bigger than 7 July 2005 have admitted terrorism-related offences.


Mohammed Rizwan, 34, and Bahader Ali, 29, both from Sparkbrook in Birmingham, pleaded guilty at Woolwich crown court to engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism, police said.


They were members of a gang led by Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 28, and Ashik Ali, 28, all from Birmingham, who were convicted in February.


Police believe it was the most significant terror plot to be uncovered since the 2006 conspiracy to blow up transatlantic airliners using bombs disguised as soft drinks.


The gang had planned to set off up to eight rucksack bombs and possibly other devices in crowded places. Khalid even boasted that their plan could be "another 9/11".


He, Naseer and Ali were all told that they faced life sentences for the plot.


Six other men, who are also from Birmingham, had already admitted terror offences. They are Rahin Ahmed, 26, from Moseley; Mujahid Hussain, 21, from Yardley; Naweed Ali, 25, Ishaaq Hussain, 21, Khobaib Hussain, 21, and Shahid Khan, 21, all from Sparkhill.


All 11 are due to be sentenced this month.





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08:06

North Korea may be threatening nuclear war, but all eyes are on rapper's highly anticipated follow-up to Gangnam Style


While Kim Jong-un keeps the world guessing if he will make good on threats to start the third world war, millions of South Koreans are agonising over a more pressing question: will Psy's next single be another global hit, or a mega-flop?


For all Kim's attempts to create the mood music of nuclear armageddon, pop fans in the South are about to dance to a different tune – one they hope will confirm the rapper's status as their country's unofficial cultural ambassador.


This Friday will see the release of Gentleman, the 35 year old highly anticipated follow-up single to Gangnam Style, the global music and dance sensation that has received more than 1.5bn hits on YouTube since its release last July.


The following day, fans in the rest of the world will be able to judge the new song for themselves when Psy performs in front of 50,000 people at the World Cup football stadium in a concert to be streamed live over the internet.


To describe Gentleman as his difficult second single wouldn't be quite right. Psy has been part of the South Korean music scene for more than a decade, but for many of his overseas fans, Gangnam Style will always be his "first" song.


The single topped the charts around the world, inspired dozens of parodies by everyone from US military cadets to Eton schoolboys, and spawned a deceptively tricky international dance craze.


The singer and his management agency, YG Entertainment, have revealed little about the new single, other than that it's "rousing", and includes moves based on a traditional Korean dance.


"I've been working and reworking on it continuously and I think the latest version will be the final one," Psy told South Korean TV.


"The dance is one known to all Koreans but new to foreigners. It will be presented in Psy style."


The runup to Friday's release, when the single is expected to leap straight to the top of South Korea's download charts, has been hit by a couple of minor glitches.


In March, the singer had to abandon the song's original title Assarabia – an innocent expression of excitement in Korean – in case it offended the Arab world.


At one point, record executives worried that the video would not be finished in time for the release.


Psy and other performers finally completed the video, filmed on location in Seoul, earlier this week after two days without sleep. "He's trying his best to stick to the schedule, but this is Psy, so you never know what's going to happen," said Lee Seo-yoo, a spokeswoman for YG Entertainment.


The song will have "fast tempo with the same kind of beat as Gangnam Style", she said, adding: "And its gong to be easy for everyone to follow and copy the dance moves."


There are signs that the pressure to produce a spectacular follow-up to Gangnam Style has been getting to the singer. Late last month he tweeted a photo of himself covering his face at a recording studio – captioning it the "pain of creation".


"If I said he was he was under no pressure I wouldn't be telling the truth," his manager, Hwang Kyu-hwan, told the Guardian. "But he's not expecting a repeat of Gangnam Style … and that's taken the pressure off a bit. Now he seems to be enjoying himself and is expecting a great show on Saturday."


The financial stakes for Psy and his agency have soared since Gangnam Style. Last year he helped YG Entertainment generate sales of almost 100bn won (£57m), making him the most bankable of the 20 or so K-pop acts on its books.


Psy hasn't done too badly out of Gangnam fever. In 2012 he was South Korea's highest-paid celebrity, with an estimated personal income of about $28m.


He earned almost $9m in the first quarter of this year alone, about half of which came from an appearance in a advert aired during the lucrative halftime slot at the Super Bowl in February. Friends and colleagues say he has become more professional since last summer, but is otherwise unaffected by his sudden international fame and soaring wealth.


Among South Koreans, anticipation is building that their country's most recognisable export will put on a suitably extravagant show this weekend, and, for all their admirable indifference to their neighbour's threats, allow them to forget about geopolitics for a few hours.


"I'm not worried about him flopping," said Kim Kwong-soo, a 23-year-old soldier who was about to start a few days' leave. "He's the only Korean male singer we all like listening to in the army … the rest are all girl bands."


Park Tae-kyung, a 22-year-old student, was worried that Psy had set the bar impossibly high with Gangnam Style. "Last time he became too famous, too quickly, so I'm not sure what to expect this time. But I love the way he's injected humour into South Korean music, and I'd like the next single to be funny too." She will probably get her way: Psy recently tweeted photos of himself decked out in a spacesuit, tennis wear and even a bridal gown and skimpy ice-skating outfit, and asked fans to turn up on Saturday dressed in white.


Jeon Sung-min won't be among them, but his admiration for Psy is testament to the artist's ability to bridge South Korea's yawning generation gap, let alone sell Korean pop music to the English-speaking world.


"Psy isn't just for young people," said Jeon, a 41-year-old businessman. "Even people my age who have been following him throughout his career can quickly pick up his lyrics and dance steps.


"The way Gangnam Style went global last year was amazing. He's not that good looking, but you can really feel his energy. If a regular guy like him can become the face of South Korea, then that's fine by me."






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08:06

Principal dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze is seeking to annul reprimands made by the company in the wake of the acid attack on its artistic director, accusing the Bolshoi of trying to drive him out


One of the Bolshoi's principal dancers has launched legal proceedings against the company after facing accusations over the acid attack on artistic director Sergei Filin.


Nikolai Tsiskaridze was twice reprimanded by the company over interviews he had given in the wake of the attack on Filin in January and is now seeking to have them annulled. Under Russian labour laws, a third reprimand would be cause for dismissal.


Tsiskaridze has previously claimed that the attack was used as the pretext for a "witch-hunt" against him, and compared the theatre's atmosphere to that of Stalinist Russia.


Bolshoi director Anatoly Iksanov gave an interview in February in which he described the incident as "a logical result of the excesses created above all by … Tsiskaridze," and chastising the dancer for "mud-slinging".


Tsiskaridze was questioned by police as a possible witness in January, before another leading soloist at the theatre, Pavel Dmitrichenko, was charged with organising the attack and paying two men to undertake it, though he denies ordering them to use acid.


Tsiskaridze petitioned a Moscow court to annul his two written warnings yesterday, but a spokesperson for the Bolshoi suggested to Sky News that the theatre could settle out of court if Tsiskaridze drops the case.


That news came as a surprise to his lawyer, Svetlana Volodina, who said, "For us the information about the possibility of an out-of-court settlement, voiced by the representative of Bolshoi, was unexpected."


"We will be asking to write in this document that all of the notices are overruled."


Filin is currently still in Germany, receiving further treatment as doctors fight to restore his sight. He has spoken of his determination to return to his job at the Bolshoi.






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08:06

Afghans will determine their own fate, says defence secretary, as MPs warns country could descend into civil war within years


The defence secretary has admitted that no one can predict what will happen to Afghanistan after British, US and other Nato troops end their frontline role there at the end of 2014, and stressed that only the Afghan people can find a lasting solution to the country's violence, corruption and lawlessness.


Philip Hammond's remarks came as the Commons cross-party defence committee warned that Afghanistan could descend into civil war within a few years and suggests that the British government's attitude towards the country is one of simply hoping for the best.


Hammond told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the UK had intervened in Afghanistan to protect its national security and had never intended to stay for a protracted period.


"Afghanistan is an incredibly complex society; a multiethnic society that was very fragmented before we started," he said. "Our ability to influence outcomes is very limited."


He defended the long deployment of British troops, saying their actions had brought about "the removal of international terrorists able to use Afghanistan as a base" and helped train the Afghan national security force, which "can and, increasingly, is holding the ring" on the insurgents.


"The sacrifices have been huge and we will never forget the sacrifice that has been made to deliver the security of Britain and our allies," he said.


"It was always clear that this could not be an open-ended intervention. We had to create the conditions where we would eventually be able to withdraw and allow the Afghans to maintain their own security so our security was protected.


"While the situation is not perfect we have come a long way to being able to deliver that objective."


The defence secretary also said it was clear that "the long-run solution to security has to be an Afghan solution; it cannot be imposed from outside". History, he said, had shown the futility of such attempts.


Asked about the committee's warnings, Hammond said it had been offered a range of views as to Afghanistan's future, which ran from the overly optimistic to the possibility of civil war.


"I completely accept nobody can say with certainty what the future for Afghanistan will be, but what I can say is that the future of Afghanistan will have to be determined by the Afghan people," he said.


Former British ambassadors to Afghanistan told the Commons committee that Nato's understanding of the Taliban was limited, that "corruption and abuse of power was intrinsic in Afghan society" and that the country's economy depended heavily on the drugs trade.


The MPs warned that the start of an Afghan-led peace settlement with the Taliban was vital to ensure the country's stability and security after the withdrawal of British troops next year. But they added that coalition forces' lack of progress in reducing violence in the country "does not augur well for improving security and economic development on a long-term sustainable basis".


The committee also criticised the government for failing to combat the perception that the pullout amounted to "withdrawal through fatigue".


Publication of the report came a day after the government announced that the last group of Royal Marines to be deployed in Afghanistan was returning to the UK. Troops from 40 Commando Royal Marines were based in the Nahr-e Saraj district. The 7,200-strong Royal Marine Corps has deployed commandos to Afghanistan 12 times since 2001, and troops from 40 Commando were the first British soldiers in the country that year, securing Bagram airfield and patrolling the streets of Kabul.


The defence committee said the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office took an optimistic view of the future yet gave very little information about how they planned to be involved in Afghanistan beyond 2014,


James Arbuthnot, chairman of the committee, said: "We have received starkly opposing predictions for Afghanistan's outlook, post-2014. The fact is that the UK has limited influence."


The report concludes: "We hope that Afghanistan can become a secure, prosperous and flourishing country but we are concerned that Afghanistan could descend into civil war within a few years."


Some ground may have to be given in negotiations with the Taliban but the committee stressed the importance of open and free elections and said the rule of law and human rights should not be compromised in any settlement. The committee said that all Afghan people, including women, must be involved in the peace process. If women were excluded as a consequence of negotiating with the Taliban, the progress made could easily unravel, the MPs warned.


"If the UK is to continue to provide financial and training support to Afghanistan post-2014, there needs to be a clear articulation of the areas the UK will fund and support and the outcomes it expects to achieve," the report said.


"It must be clear to those engaged in the peace negotiations that, in providing support in the future, the UK will be paying close attention to the progress on the rights of women, children and minority groups, the tackling of corruption and the furtherance of the rule of law".


The report also claimed that not enough was being done to train and equip Afghan security forces properly. Concerns remained over the capability of Afghan forces to fill the gap left by withdrawing coalition forces, particularly in terms of helicopters, close air support and logistics, the committee said.


"We are concerned that the ANSF [Afghan national security forces totalling about 350,000] will reduce its strength by over a third on current plans based on the expectation that the insurgency will have been diminished," the report adds. "The government should urge the international community to develop a contingency plan in case the level of the insurgency does not diminish".







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08:06

Director credited with giving National Theatre a golden decade of hits will leave along with closest colleague Nick Starr


Sir Nicholas Hytner, who has presided over what has been, by near universal acclaim, a golden decade in the history of the National Theatre, is to step down as its artistic director by March 2015.


He said: "It's been a joy and a privilege to lead the National Theatre for 10 years and I'm looking forward to the next two. I have the most exciting and most fulfilling job in the English-speaking theatre; and after 12 years it will be time to give someone else a turn to enjoy the company of my stupendous colleagues, who together make the National what it is."


Hytner, 56, has been credited with making the National an artistically vibrant theatre that has produced strings of popular hits, such as War Horse and The History Boys, and become a place where Britain can hold a mirror to itself politically and socially, whether through bold new commissions that inquire into the state of the nation, such as London Road, or by timely revivals of the classics, such as Hytner's own version of Henry V, which played as Britain and the US invaded Iraq in 2003.


One of his chief achievements was persuading the firm Travelex to sponsor cheap seats – so that many tickets for the National's largest stage, the Olivier, are £12, less than a West End cinema ticket. During his tenure the theatre has also begun transmitting its work in cinemas, bringing productions to a wider audience.


Hytner's resignation comes as no surprise: he has repeatedly said that a decade is about the right period for an artistic director to preside over what is, with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Britain's most celebrated theatre.


He has also signalled in the past that the optimum time to depart would be after the National's 50th anniversary, which falls this year, and the theatre's current £70m redevelopment, which sees its smallest stage, the Cottesloe, transformed and renamed; the creation of a new riverside bar and gardens; and a new education centre. Work is due to be completed in 2014.


Hytner's closest colleague, the theatre's executive director, Nick Starr, has also announced his departure in 2014 to make way for a new senior manager to work with the incoming artistic director.


The pair will continue to work together, Starr told the Guardian. "We have plans, but it's not quite the moment to speak about them," he said. "We have a wonderful working relationship, and we don't want it to end yet."


In an interview with the Guardian in November, Hytner signalled his desire not to become a freelance director, as many former artistic directors of theatres have done, but to continue working as an artistic director and producer in another guise – leaving open the intriguing possibility that the pair aim to run another British theatre.


"I doubt I'd want to be a freelance director again," he said. "I like producing too much." Asked whether he would found a company bearing his own name, he said: "No not that. I'd want to continue to do something that wasn't just about me. I'm a director and always will be, but I love the relationship I have with directors, writers I have never worked with directly, and actors I have never worked with."


The search is now on for Hytner's successor – which will be one of the most hotly fought recruitment processes in the arts, with no shortage of potential contenders such as Dominic Cooke, until recently artistic director of the Royal Court, Tom Morris, currently revitalising the Bristol Old Vic, and Marianne Elliott, associate director at the National.


Adverts for the job will be published next week and a new artistic director announced, it is hoped, by the autumn. It is anticipated that Hytner's successor will be in post in early to mid-2014 as "director designate" with a period of overlap until Hytner's last programmed works are played in March 2015. The new director's programme will take over in April 2015.


John Makinson, the National's chair, paid tribute to the "two Nicks", saying: "Nick Hytner and Nick Starr have led the National Theatre to undreamed levels of creative and commercial success over the past decade."


Makinson will be joined on the search committee for Hytner's successor by the novelist Kate Mosse, the British Museum's director Neil MacGregor, the Film4 boss Tessa Ross and the producer and agent Peter Bennett-Jones.






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08:06

Death toll from new strain of virus rises to nine out of 31 confirmed cases as authorities act to prevent public panic


Chinese police have detained at least 10 people for spreading rumours about the H7N9 bird flu, according to state media, as the death toll from the new strain of the virus rose to nine.


Authorities made the arrests in six provinces – Shaanxi, Guizhou, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian – after some posted "fake information" online about new cases of the virus in their areas, the official Xinhua news agency said.


The death toll and number of infections in China from the strain of bird flu first found in humans last month has risen daily.


Nine people have died out of the 31 confirmed cases of the virus, all in eastern China, according to data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission. State media quoted authorities as saying a vaccine should be ready within months.


One man detained in Anhui was given seven days of administrative detention for fabricating posts about infections on Chinese microblogs, Xinhua said. The Xi'an public security bureau in Shaanxi province is investigating another man's posts, "to prevent untrue information from causing public panic", Xinhua said.


Scientists around the world have praised China for its handling of the deadly outbreak, but many Chinese are sceptical of the government's pronouncements about the H7N9 virus given a history of public health scandals and cover-ups.


The government initially tried to conceal an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), which emerged in China in 2002 and killed about one in 10 of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.


Chinese internet users have questioned why the government waited weeks to announce cases of the bird flu strain, but health officials said it took time to identify the virus, which was previously unknown in humans.


China's Communist party is keen to maintain social stability but it has struggled to clamp down on rumours, which often spread quickly on the internet.


Authorities have detained people in the past for spreading rumours, including 93 people accused of circulating information about the apocalypse last December. However, some commentators have noted that reports of a flu-like condition killing one person near Shanghai had been circulating on Chinese microblogs weeks before the government confirmed it was a case of H7N9.


"From this you can see if the government tried to cover up like in 2003 (Sars cases) but more and more of these posts surfaced, there would be no way to conceal it," social media watcher and journalist Wu Heng told Reuters.


The latest H7N9 victim was from Anhui province, Xinhua reported. Among the new cases are several from Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, at least one of whom is dangerously ill, the news agency said.


The China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday that a vaccine for H7N9 had been authorised by China Food and Drug Administration and was expected to be introduced to the market in the first half of this year.


The source of the infection remains unknown, although samples had tested positive in some birds in poultry markets that remain the focus of investigations by China and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).


The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday it was looking into two suspected "family clusters" of people in China who may be infected with the H7N9 virus, potentially the first evidence of human-to-human spread.


The new virus is severe in most humans, leading to fears that if it becomes easily transmissible, it could cause a deadly influenza pandemic.


However, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing in Geneva that so far there is no firm evidence of human-to-human transmission occurring, which could spark a pandemic. Chinese health authorities have said the same.





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