Brazil government denies media reports of 2010 mad cow case

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil‘s Agriculture Ministry said on Friday that the country had registered no cases of mad cow disease, denying reports on some local media websites that said the disease had cropped up in the southern state of Parana two years ago.

In a statement on its website, the ministry said a cow that died in Parana in 2010 had tested positive for prions, the proteins believed to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy, as the disease is formally called.

But the statement went on to say that the animal did not die of BSE and did not have symptoms of the disease.

“The World Animal Health Organization (OIE) in an official communication maintains the classification of Brazil as a country with insignificant risk of BSE,” the statement said.

In 2010, the ministry had also denied reports of a case of mad cow disease after news agencies picked up on the story. The government said it would provide further details on the case later on Friday at a news conference.

A story posted on the website of financial newspaper Valor Economico early on Friday said the cow in Parana had probably died of mad cow disease.

The outbreak of mad cow disease in Europe, North America and Japan a decade ago prompted beef importers to embargo shipments and caused temporary chaos in the industry. Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter.

(Reporting by Reese Ewing and Gustavo Bonato; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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Sharp fall in UK factory output

7 December 2012 Last updated at 07:42 ET

UK manufacturing output registered a surprisingly sharp fall in October, resurrecting fears of recession.

Output fell by 1.3% from September, the Office for National Statistics said, with food and drink output, notably beer, down following the Olympics.

It was the worst fall since June, when activity was depressed by extra public holidays for the Diamond Jubilee.

It also adds to evidence that the UK economy may be relapsing into recession after a short rebound over the summer.

The ONS’s latest growth estimate suggested the economy expanded 1% in the third quarter of the year, following nine months of mild contraction – in part thanks to the boost from tourist spending during the Summer Olympics.

Guns, beer, coke and drugs

Compared with a year ago, manufacturing output in October was down by 2.1%.

Production of alcoholic beverages was down 10% from September, and 16% from a year earlier.

There were also sharp falls in activity in the coke and refined petroleum, weapons and ammunitions, and pharmaceuticals sectors.

The figure for the wider measure of industrial output, which also includes energy production and mining, was down 0.8% in October, after falling 2.1% in September.

The seasonally adjusted index of production fell by 3% in October 2012 compared with a year ago, the 19th consecutive monthly fall on the same month a year ago.

The figures were worse than economists had expected.

“Very disappointing – triple dip [recession] here we come,” said Alan Clarke at Scotiabank.

“Manufacturing was diabolical. Sadly, I think there is not a lot to suggest that it is temporary. Survey data has been fairly downbeat.”

Potential

The chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, David Kern, said the industrial production figures were “bleak”, and added it was clear that “the manufacturing sector is facing major obstacles to a sustainable recovery”.

However, he said there were reasons to be confident about the sector’s prospects.

“Manufacturing is still a significant sector of our economy and is still benefitting from a competitive exchange rate, not withstanding sterling’s rise over the past year… the sector is well-managed, and has the potential to recover.”

Oil and gas extraction fell in the month at the fastest rate since records began in January 1998, although that was partly due to maintenance works, which included the temporary shutdown of the largest oil field in the North Sea.

The news comes in the same week as the government’s Autumn Statement, which said the economy would shrink this year, rather than expand, as had first been predicted.

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South Africa military plane crashes in mountains

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African military aircraft on an unknown mission to an area near the village where former President Nelson Mandela lives crashed in a mountain range, officials said Thursday. It was unclear whether there were any survivors.

The Douglas DC-3 Dakota, a twin-propeller aircraft, had taken off from Pretoria’s Waterkloof Air Force Base on Wednesday night, said Brig. Gen. Xolani Mabanga, a military spokesman. On Thursday morning, soldiers found the wreckage of the airplane in the Drakensberg mountains near Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal province, some 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of the air base, Mabanga said.

Mabanga said soldiers had been sent to the scene to look for survivors. Mabanga said he did not know what the mission of the aircraft was, though it had planned to land in Mthatha in the country’s Eastern Cape. Siphiwe Dlamini, a Defense Ministry spokesman, declined to immediately comment Thursday morning.

Mthatha is about 30 kilometers (17 miles) north of Qunu, the village where Mandela now lives after retiring from public life. South Africa‘s military remains largely responsible for the former president’s medical care. However, military officials declined to say whether those on board had any part in caring for Mandela.

In November, another South African military flight crash landed at Mthatha, sending several people to the hospital with injuries. However, at that time, the military denied that those on board had anything to do with Mandela’s care.

Mandela, 94, was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid before becoming the nation’s president in the country’s first fully democratic vote in 1994.

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Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .

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Samsung files redacted copy of Apple-HTC deal in U.S. court

(Reuters) – Lawyers for Samsung Electronics Co Ltd filed a redacted copy of a 10-year patent licensing agreement between Apple Inc and Taiwan’s HTC Corp in a U.S. court late on Wednesday following a judge’s order.

The Korean electronics company had earlier filed a motion to compel Apple — with which it is waging a bitter legal battle over mobile patents across several countries — to reveal details of a settlement that was made with HTC on November 10 but which have been kept under wraps.

The court last month ordered Apple to disclose to Samsung details of the legal settlement that the iPhone maker reached with HTC, including terms of the 10-year patents licensing agreement.

Legal experts say the question of which patents are covered by the Apple-HTC settlement, and licensing details, could be instrumental in Samsung’s efforts to thwart Apple’s subsequent quest for a permanent sales ban on its products.

The redacted copy excludes key specifics such as the royalty payments HTC would have to make to Apple for using some of the U.S. company’s patents. Also excluded are details of some of HTC’s covered products that were part of the licensing deal.

The court order had stated that “only the pricing and royalty terms of license agreements may be sealed.”

However, Samsung lawyers said in the filing that they had withheld a few other details of the licensing agreement as requested by Apple and HTC.

As per the Apple-HTC agreement, the licenses do not include Apple’s design patents, according to a filing made with the District Court of Northern California.

Apple and HTC also agreed to fully paid-up, royalty-free, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable licenses to certain of the other’s patents.

Apple has agreed not to initiate legal action over some of HTC’s covered products. The details of the products were not disclosed.

The copy of the Apple-HTC deal filed with the court “incorporates redactions HTC requested and the redactions Apple requested, which are a subset of HTC’s redactions. Samsung takes no position on whether the redactions are appropriate at this time,” Samsung’s lawyers said in a filing.

If all the Apple patents are included — including the “user experience” patents that the company has previously insisted it would not license — it could undermine the iPhone maker’s efforts to permanently ban the sale of products that copy its technology.

In a previous court filing, Samsung argued that it was “almost certain” that the HTC deal covered some of the patents involved in its own litigation with Apple.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, No. 11-1846.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore and Poornima Gupta in San Francisco; Editing by Richard Pullin and Ted Kerr)

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“Zero Dark Thirty” wins best film award a second time

NEW YORK (Reuters) – “Zero Dark Thirty,” filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow‘s action thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, was named best film of 2012 on Wednesday by the National Board of Review – the second accolade for the movie in one week.

Bigelow was named best director and Jessica Chastain, who plays the starring role of a young CIA officer pursuing bin Laden, was named best actress by the NBR.

Bradley Cooper took home best actor honors for his portrayal of a bipolar, former teacher in the film “Silver Linings Playbook.”

” ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is a masterful film,” NBR President Annie Schulhof said in a statement. “Kathryn Bigelow takes the viewer inside a definitive moment of our time in a visceral and unique way. It is exciting, provocative and deeply emotional.”

Wednesday’s awards for the Hollywood treatment of the decade-long operation to hunt and kill bin Laden, based on firsthand accounts, boosts the prospects for the movie to win an Oscar in February. The film, not yet publicly released, also took the top award from the New York Film Critics Circle on Monday.

Leonardo DiCaprio won best supporting actor from the NBR for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s new slavery era drama, “Django Unchained,” while Ann Dowd took the best supporting actress honors for her role in “Compliance,” as a fast-food restaurant manager duped by a prank caller scam.

The NBR, a 100 year-old U.S.-based group of movie industry watchers and film professionals, gave its original screenplay award to Rian Johnson for “Looper,” and adapted screenplay to David O. Russell for “Silver linings Playbook.”

“HOBBIT,” “LIFE OF PI” OVERLOOKED

“Les Miserables,” the first big movie adaptation of the popular stage musical featuring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway was named best ensemble, and the group gave its best animated feature prize to “Wreck-It-Ralph.”

Each year the board also issues a list of top 10 movies, which this year besides Bigelow’s film included Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage thriller “Argo,” “Django Unchained,” “Les Miserables,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and “Looper.”

“Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg’s biopic of President Abraham Lincoln, the mystical indie film “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Gus van Sant’s fracking drama “Promised Land,” and coming of age film “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” rounded out the list.

Absent from the list were some films that had been touted for honors ahead of awards season, including Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit,” Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom,” indie film “The Sessions” starring Helen Hunt, and Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi.”

In other categories, NBR gave its best documentary award to “Searching for Sugarman,” and chose Austrian director Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” as best foreign language film.

Child-actress Quvenzhane Wallis from “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” and “The Impossible” actor Tom Holland each won awards for breakthrough performances.

Benh Zeitlin received the award for best debut director for “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” while documentary “Central Park Five” and drama “Promised Land” were both honored with the Freedom of Expression award.

The National Board of Review was formed in New York in 1909 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting movies as an art form and entertainment.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Jill Serjeant and Leslie Gevirtz)

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Kate leaves hospital after morning sickness

LONDON (Reuters) – Prince William‘s pregnant wife Kate left the King Edward VII hospital in central London on Thursday where she had spent four days being treated for acute morning sickness.

Accompanied by her husband, Kate, 30, appeared at the steps of the hospital smiling and holding a bouquet of yellow flowers. Neither she nor William spoke to waiting reporters before being driven way.

Kate, who married the second-in-line to the throne in April last year, has been suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum, an acute morning sickness which causes severe nausea and vomiting and requires supplementary hydration and nutrients.

There has been no announcement about when the baby is due, although the prince’s spokesman has said Kate is less than 12 weeks pregnant.

Kate, known formally as the Duchess of Cambridge, will now recuperate at Kensington Palace, a royal residence in west London, her husband’s office said.

“She is feeling better but now requires a period of rest,” a royal spokeswoman said. “Their royal highnesses would like to thank the staff at the hospital for the care and treatment the duchess has received,” the spokeswoman added.

The onset of the severe sickness and the need for Kate to go to hospital brought forward the announcement of her pregnancy, sparking a frenzy in the British media and even taking by surprise her grandmother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, according to reports.

Bookmakers have been quick off the mark to lay odds on a name for the unborn baby, who will be third in line to the British throne after William and his father Charles.

The government is passing legislation in time for the birth to change historic rules of succession so that males no longer have precedence over a female sibling.

There has even been speculation that Kate could be carrying twins, as the acute sickness she is suffering is slightly more common in twin pregnancies.

World leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama were swift to follow British Prime Minister David Cameron in sending their congratulations.

(Reporting by Tim Castle and Stephen Addison, editing by Paul Casciato)

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EADS EGM scheduled for first quarter: source

BERLIN (Reuters) – EADS will call an extraordinary general meeting in the first quarter of next year to seek approval of a planned overhaul of its shareholders structure, a source at the German economy ministry said on Thursday.

Nations in EADS on Wednesday agreed on the biggest shake-up of the European aerospace group since it was founded over a decade ago, opting after years of uneasy cohabitation to put its board and most of its shares beyond public control.

(Reporting by Markus Wacket; Writing by Maria Sheahan)

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Sri Lanka see backlash from Aussie ‘wounded soldiers’

(Reuters) – Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has warned his team to be wary of a backlash from Australia in their three-test series after the hosts were stung by their series defeat to South Africa earlier this week.

Australia’s hopes of snatching the Proteas’ top test ranking ended in a crushing 309-run defeat in the third and final test in Perth on Monday, but Jayawardene took little comfort from the home side’s disappointment.

“I see them as wounded soldiers – they could come back stronger against us,” Jayawardene told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday, on the eve of a three-day tour match against a Chairman’s XI side.

“So we just need to make sure we are ready for that and start well.

“We can’t be complacent – we need to make sure we know from ball one we give them a good go at it.”

Sri Lanka have their own problems coming into the first test at Hobart next week, losing their last test at home to New Zealand by 167 runs to level a two-match series 1-1, with key batsmen out of form.

Kumar Sangakkara scored five, nought and 16 in his three innings against New Zealand, but Jayawardene backed the veteran to bounce back in Sri Lanka’s bid to win their first test Down Under.

“I am happy that he went through a lean phase because he’ll be really hungry for runs – that’s Kumar for you,” Jayawardene said of the 35-year-old stalwart.

Jayawardene also said he would weigh up his future as captain after the series, which includes tests in Melbourne and Sydney, after taking on the role for a second time in the wake of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s sudden resignation in January.

“After this, we get a well-deserved four weeks off, after about three years, so it gives me a bit of time to think (about) what I need to do,” said Jayawardene, who captained the team for more than three years in his first stint from 2006.

“We need to groom another leader as well. It’s very important to have that changeover done smoothly while the senior players are still in the side.”

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Lady Gaga buys Michael Jackson’s costumes at auction

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop star Lady Gaga purchased 55 items belonging to late singer Michael Jackson in a weekend auction that raised more than $ 5 million, a portion of which will be donated to charity, Julien’s Auctions said.

The auction, held in Beverly Hills, showcased 465 lots of items spanning Jackson’s career through the years, including costumes and props used on tour and in music videos.

Highlights from the sale included the late singer’s “BAD” tour jacket raising $ 240,000, a white glove selling for $ 192,000 and one of the singer’s Pepsi and Awards jacket garnering more than $ 68,000, the auction house said in a statement.

Following Sunday’s auction, Gaga told her 31 million Twitter followers that “the 55 pieces I collected today will be archived & expertly cared for in the spirit & love of Michael Jackson, his bravery, & fans worldwide.”

Jackson died aged 50 in June 2009 in Los Angeles from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol and sedatives.

The collection of outfits, designed by Los Angeles-based collaborators Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush and gifted back to them by the late singer, were taken on a world tour earlier this year, traveling across South America, Europe and Asia.

In September, British hat designer Philip Treacy designed his first London fashion week show in a decade around Jackson’s auction costumes, which were worn by the models down the runway and accessorized with hats inspired by the late singer’s life.

Gaga not only attended Treacy’s show but was on hand to introduce the milliner’s collection.

The auction exceeded pre-sale estimates of $ 1 million to $ 2 million, and a portion of the final amount raised will benefit the Guide Dogs of America and Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant)

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French men not producing as much sperm

(Reuters Health) – When it comes to sperm counts, French men aren’t what they used to be, according to a new study.

Researchers found that between 1989 and 2005, the number of sperm in one milliliter of the average 35-year-old Frenchman’s semen fell from about 74 million to about 50 million – a decrease of roughly 32 percent.

“That’s certainly within the normal range, but if you think about it, if there continues to be a decrease, we would expect that we’ll get into that infertile range,” said Grace Centola, president of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology in Birmingham, Alabama.

And the French aren’t the only ones who should be concerned, the researchers said.

“A decline in male reproduction endpoints has been suspected for several decades and is still debated all around the world. Geographical differences have been observed between countries, and between areas inside countries,” said Joëlle Le Moal from the Institut de Veille Sanitaire in France, who led the study.

Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, Le Moal’s team said global analyses have found decreases in sperm counts, as did recent studies in Israel, India, New Zealand and Tunisia.

Centola, who wasn’t involved with the new research, told Reuters Health she had also found similar results in a group of young sperm donors from Boston in the United States.

For the new study, Le Moal’s team used a database of France’s 126 fertility clinics that recorded men’s semen samples from 1989 through 2005. They then narrowed their study to 26,600 samples provided by men whose female partners were later found to be infertile. That, they say, minimizes the risk the men had a fertility problem.

Over the 16-year period, the researchers found there was about a 2 percent annual decrease in the number of sperm in one milliliter of the average man’s semen.

“One would look at that and say it’s not all that much. It isn’t, but if it’s occurring on a yearly basis it can add up,” said Centola. “Clearly if this type of decrease continues, we’re going to find that we’re going to have young men that have low sperm counts,” she said.

The World Health Organisation defines anything over 15 million per milliliter of semen as normal. However, the study’s authors suggest that it may take longer for men with counts in the lower range of normal to conceive.

The researchers also found that there was an increase in the number of abnormally shaped sperm over the study period, which can also influence fertility.

Part of that finding, however, can be explained by scientists getting better at recognizing misshapen swimmers, but not all of it. “So both results are important,” said Le Moal.

(Editing by Ivan Oransky and Kate Kelland)

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