Jaeger leCoultre watches

Blue ear disease occurred in Vietnam ’s southern Tien Giang province with 380 infected pigs, the Vietnam News Agency reported Monday.

The agency quoted Tien Giang provincial government as reporting that the disease struck nine communes of the province.

To prevent the spread of the disease, local authorities have taken prevention measures including the destruction of all infected pigs.

Other measures have been also implemented such as sterilizing the affected areas and their neighborhood and containing movements of traffic in these places to curb the disease from spreading.

The local authorities have decided to give affected farmers 25, 000 Vietnamese dong (about 1.3 dollars) for per kilo of animals lost, said the report.

Source: Xinhua

Mauritius has recorded the first victim who succumbed to A/ H1N1 flu in 2010, local medical sources reported over the weekend.

A government official aged 51 died on Saturday night in a private clinic after having been admitted on July 4 for what was believed to be a flu.

After his health status started deteriorating rapidly, he was transferred to the intensive care unit.

Doctors indicated that he died from a viral infection with respiratory distress. Tests that were carried out on this patient early last week confirmed the presence of the A/H1N1 virus.

Several suspected cases of A/H1N1 virus have been detected in both private and public health centers.

According to information received from the private clinic, the victim had suffered from the flu for about 15 days.

Despite the antibiotics that had been prescribed by his doctor, his health status did not improve hence his hospitalization.

According to a number of doctors in Mauritius, the resurgence of the A/ H1N1 virus is now a reality. Already, in the beginning of the week, several doctors in private clinics had raised the alarm about the re-emergence of this virus in Mauritius.

Source: Xinhua

In  1903, Parisian Edmond Jaeger challenged Jacques-David LeCoultre, grandson of Antoine, to manufacture ultra-thin calibers of his design. Out of their relationship emerged a collection of ultra-thin pocket watches, followed by others that eventually, in 1937, officially culminated in the Jaeger-LeCoultre brand.In 1907, French jeweler Cartier, a client of Jaeger’s, signed a contract with the Parisian watchmaker under which all Jaeger’s movement designs for a period of 15 years would be exclusive to Cartier. The movements were produced by LeCoultre. Also in 1907, the LeCoultre Caliber 145 set the record for the thinnest movement at 1.38 mm. JLC began manufacturing the Atmos clock in 1936 after purchasing the patent from Jean-Leon Reutter, who invented it in 1928. The company was officially renamed Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1937. In 1941, Jaeger-LeCoultre earned the highest distinction from the Neuchatel Observatory for its tourbillon Caliber 170. In 1982, the Jaeger-LeCoultre museum was established in Le Sentier. In 2009, JLC produced the world’s most complicated wristwatch, the Hybris Mechanica à Grande Sonnerie with 26 complications.

Watches sold in North America were sold under the LeCoultre name from 1932 to approximately 1985. After that the Jaeger-LeCoultre name was adopted uniformly worldwide. According to factory records, the last movement to be used in an American LeCoultre watch shipped out of Le Sentier in 1976.

There is substantial confusion over the use of LeCoultre name for the North American market. Some collectors and misinformed dealers make the erroneous claim that the American LeCoultre has nothing to do with Jaeger-LeCoultre Switzerland. The confusion stems from the fact that, in the 1950s, the North American distributor of LeCoultre watches was the Longines-Wittnauer Group, which was also responsible for the distribution of Vacheron Constantin timepieces. Collectors have confused this distribution channel with the manufacture of the watches. Outside the actual distribution channel, the LeCoultre product, at the manufacturing level, had nothing to do with either Longines, Wittnauer or Vacheron Constantin. In addition, the LeCoultre trademark was owned by the Société Anonyme de la Fabrique D’Horlogerie LeCoultre & Cie, Le Sentier. The LeCoultre trademark expired and was replaced by the Jaeger-LeCoultre trademark in 1985.

Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced on Friday the application of the Codes on Takeovers and Mergers and Share Repurchases (Codes) to SFC-authorized real estate investment trusts (REITs) with immediate effect.

Released Friday are consultation conclusions on the proposals to extend the Codes to REITs and to apply the market misconduct and disclosure of interests provisions in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) to listed collective investment schemes ( CISs) (Note 1).

“We believe that the implementation of the proposals represent a significant step forward in establishing a regulatory framework that better protects the investors’ interests and assists the further development of the REIT market in Hong Kong,” said Martin Wheatley, the SFC’s Chief Executive Officer.

According to the SFC, unitholders who increase their holding to 30 percent or more will be subject to the trigger provisions under the Codes.

Likewise, unitholders holding between 30 percent and 50 percent who increase their holding by more than 2 percent from the relevant lowest percentage in the 12-month period preceding the relevant increase in holding will also be subject to the creeper provisions of the Codes.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle will direct the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, organizers said on Thursday, and he immediately promised a “thrilling welcome” for both athletes and the world.

Boyle, whose work includes “Shallow Grave,” “Trainspotting” and the hugely successful “Slumdog Millionaire,” acknowledged it may not be on the same scale as the last Games in Beijing, but he promised a “genuine and personal welcome.”

British director and producer Stephen Daldry, who has been involved with “Billy Elliot,” “The Hours” and “The Reader,” will be part of a four-man team which will oversee the opening and closing ceremonies for both the Olympic and Paralympics.

They will work within a total budget of 40 million pounds, which will come out of the overall 2 billion pound budget of Locog, the organization responsible for staging the Games.

A global TV audience of 1 billion people watched Beijing’s spectacular opening ceremony in 2008, which set the benchmark against previous ceremonies often deemed woeful and cheesy.

“You have got to acknowledge that it is not going to be like Beijing in terms of this overwhelming, intimidating scale,” Boyle told reporters.

“It will be more modest than that. But our job is to make sure that within those means it is spectacular and delivers a thrilling welcoming to the opening of the Games.”

There were few hints about what would be included, except that the lighting of the Olympic torch was central to their thinking, and “zombies would not be running around on stage.”

“I want to provide something fitting for this world event,” he added.

There were hints that part of the ceremony could be “bounced out” of the stadium.

Locog chairman Seb Coe said it was important not to just ape previous ceremonies, but to portray the different cities and their backgrounds.

Boyle, who has lived in east London where the Games will be held, said he jumped at the chance of being artistic director, and would take inspiration from sporting excellence and the city which had given him so many opportunities.

He will work on the project full-time from early next year after he has completed two projects he is already committed to including a stage production of “Frankenstein.”

Boyle, who said he was a better sports fan than competitor, praised the intimacy of the 80,000-seat main stadium where the ceremonies will be held, describing it as a “little wonder.”

Daldry said he did not view the project as a poisoned chalice.

They would not be tied to the 8-minute show put on by London during the hand-over ceremony in Beijing, organizers said.

The slot, which featured a red London bus and bowler-hatted dancers, cost 1.5 million pounds, but was widely criticized.

“It is a different show, and a different team,” Martin Green, Locog’s head of ceremonies, told Reuters.

A protest against violence targeting the Chinese community in Paris ended on Sunday with demonstrators being tear-gassed by police.

About 8,500 people turned out on the streets of city’s eastern Belleville district, where they called for “coordinated and concerted” action by the authorities against a growing number of attacks.

Trouble broke out as the demonstration was ending when scuffles erupted between a group of around a dozen youths and 50 young demonstrators, police said.

According to multiple witnesses, trouble started when a bag belonging to one of the demonstrators was stolen. Police intervened and said three people were arrested.

Police tear-gassed the crowd after objects were thrown at them, prompting demonstrators to overturn cars and block traffic in the area for several hours.

Belleville is an ethnically diverse district of the French capital that has seen an influx of Asian immigrants in the last 10 years.

According to organizers from French-Chinese organizations, who distributed 5,000 T-shirts and stickers saying “Security For All”, it was the largest demonstration by the Chinese community on record in France.

“French-Asian associations are marching for the first time against the lack of security,” said the president of the organizers, Chan Sing Mo. “If the problem continues, we’ll come out again in larger numbers.”

In the last few months, Chinese in the French capital have been subjected to attacks and violent robberies by youths in Belleville and other parts of eastern Paris, and many feel at a disadvantage as immigrants.

“Those who can’t speak French or don’t have proper papers are not able to complain,” a florist in Belleville said.

A group led by China’s Sepco III Electric Power Construction has made the lowest bid of $2.44 billion to build a 2,400 megawatt power plant in Saudi Arabia, two industry sources said Saturday.

The group, which also includes Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arrab Contracting, is bidding for the project in Ras Azzour, on the Gulf coast. The project is integrated with a water desalination facility with a daily capacity of over 1 million cubic meters.

A $2.86 billion bid from Spain’s Iberdrola and Saudi partner Arabian Bemco Contracting came second, a source said, declining to be identified.

South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries came third with a bid of $2.91 billion while South Korean Hyundai Engineering & Construction bid with Siemens and Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works at $3.7 billion, two sources said.

Japan’s Sasakura Engineering, with South Korea’s Samsung Engineering, had made the lowest bid of $1.89 billion to build the desalination plant.

Fuhaid bin Fahd Al-Sharif, governor of the state-controlled Saline Water Conversion (SWCC), said in October the cost of the giant power and desalination project is expected to be 20-25 percent below initial estimates.

The project had been estimated to cost $6 billion. SWCC will take 1 billion liters of the plant’s water production.
Saudi Arabian Mining (Maaden) would take 1,350 MW and 1,050 MW would be allocated to Saudi Electricity.

Henkel, a German adhesives, cosmetics and detergents company, is focusing on business innovation and an integrated strategy for sustainable development.

“For us, innovation is the primary growth driver for Henkel China. As one of the most innovative companies in its markets, more than one third of our sales volume is generated by products that are less than three years old,” Faruk Arig, president of Henkel China, told China Business Weekly.

“This means that innovation is indispensable to the profitability of our business,” he said, adding that his company is specially focused on innovations that offer customers clear added value.

According to him, the company in 2008 launched the strategy to make its focal areas systematically anchored in its company-wide standardized innovation process, enabling it to fulfill its commitment on business innovation and sustainability.

By 2009, Henkel worldwide had invested 396 million euros in product research and development.

The company had developed ultra-light yet high-strength fiber composite materials to help design engineers to reduce the weight of planes. For the new Airbus A380, for example, this will result in a 30 percent reduction in weight and 40 percent cost savings.

Henkel was recently listed by US thinktank The Ethisphere Institute as one of the “world’s most ethnical companies” for 2010.

The Ethisphere Institute awards recognize and encourage companies globally that had obtained outstanding achievements in corporate management and sustainable development through business innovation. Henke is the only Germany-headquartered multinational among other Asian, US and European counterparts.

“Obtaining sustainability development, a distinctive feature of Henkel, will always be the most crucial task for us at any time, and we will strive to incorporate our best-product qualities with our mission of environmental protection and CSR (corporate social responsibilities),” said Faruk Arig.

Facing global challenges over energy and climate, water and wastewater; materials and waste, health and safety, and social progress, Henkel has adopted appropriate strategies in more than 125 countries and regions.

Each year, Henkel will issue its own sustainability development report at the same time it releases its annual finances, a move that highlights the company’s strong emphasis on the issue.

For example, Arig said the company had decided to reduce the volume of its Pritt glue stick, as research finds customers often fail to use up the whole stick, which might lead to large quantities of waste. Pritt has been seeking end its reliance on oils and eventually found a way to replace them with starch, a recyclable raw material.

The company started its research in this area as far back as 1991. Henkel researchers discovered that starch, after chemical processing, has perfect adhesive features on a par with the traditional polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) used in Pritt.

In 2000, Henkel launched a comprehensive replacement program for PVP in its adhesive production, becoming the only provider of starch glue sticks in the world. So far, 90 percent of the raw materials used in Pritt glue stick production are recyclable, said Arig.

The technology has been expanded from the consumer goods sector to industrial adhesives, using recyclable materials such as starch, fiber paste, cellulose and protein.

The company has also developed a series of technologies to make people’s living space more energy and cost efficient.

For example, for houses in areas with extreme hot weather, it had developed roof-coating products that not only seal the roof, but keep it from overheating. As a result the use of costly air-conditioners can be considerably reduced.

It also developed its Teroson brand adhesives for seams in wood and other types of doors and windows following research that showed the equivalent of about 22 percent of the calorific capacity was lost through draughty gaps.

In 2003, it launched the Ceresit construction materials energy-saving system, which can eliminate heating diffusion to the outside, saving energy costs.

In the 2009 annual sustainability report Henkel published, the company said it would focus on five key areas: energy and environment, waste water usage, raw material and waste materials, health and safety and social progress. It vowed that from now on, every product it launched would make appropriate contributions in each one of the respective areas.

“Through our brands and technologies, Henkel will try its best to meet people’s necessities by applying our sustainability development approaches throughout the whole value chain of raw materials, production, logistics and product usage,” said Arig.

He cited the development of its Terokal structural adhesives and Terocore structural foams, which are produced in collaboration with automobile manufacturers in order to make cars that will be as light as possible while offering maximum strength and optimal crash-resistance.

Nowadays, structural adhesives are increasingly replacing traditional joining techniques such as welding and riveting. They distribute loads evenly over a larger area and absorb impact energy more effectively if an accident should occur. Moreover, Terokal structural adhesives also make it possible to join different materials such as steel and aluminum.

For example, the company developed Aquace W-01, the first water-based polyurethane adhesive for sports footwear. This inspired a series of innovations that will help to reduce emissions of volatile substances during processing by up to 90 percent in comparison with the use of solvent- based adhesives.

“We launched Aquace SW-07 in 2009. As the first one-component adhesive for applications of this kind, it makes it possible to improve quality while minimizing waste,” he said.

By now, all of the leading sports footwear brands are profiting from an appreciably higher level of protection of health and the environment in athletic footwear production facilities, he told China Business Weekly.

“For us, innovation is part of our DNA, a way to obtain development in a sustainable and efficient way,” he added.

“Every day, millions of Henkel innovative products are sold and consumed. They have to conserve the environment and raw materials. This is why we concentrate on developing products that not only provide superb performance but also enable the efficient use of valuable resources such as water and energy.”

In 2009, Henkel also won three awards respectively from US chainstore giant Walmart, human resources consultancy KeyLogic and Coop Group from Switzerland for its contribution to sustainable development.

Just how popular was Mini? Very. Every year, her classmates voted her as the favourite student. She was easy to get along with and great company. The number of friends she had by far outnumbered those of anyone else in her group. One day the 10-year-old was caught yakkety-yakking in the class and ordered to stay back as punishment. Staying back meant doing something ‘useful’, like helping in the garden or library after school. Now the school in which Mini studied had a rule of sorts. Once a month, you could interchange your punishment schedule with someone else. If you had something else to do the day you were punished, you could ask a friend to stand in for you. Of course, you had to return the favour, but in that same month itself. Otherwise the favour cancelled itself out. So the students who stayed back for others and wanted the favour repaid, found ways to be punished that very month. As it happened, on that day a very dear aunt was visiting Mini on her way back to America. That afternoon was the only chance Mini had of seeing her for another five years. Mini needed someone to stand in for her. That was a problem though – it was the last day of the month. So anyone who helped her, would do so out of friendship’s sake alone. She sought out Preeti, her ‘best’ friend. “Oh no Mini, I can’t,” Preeti said. “I have to coach my brother for his nursery entrance test. The kid just can’t seem to get into any decent school.” And she spent a good deal of time telling Mini of her brother’s problems. “Mohit, will you stay back for me?” Mini asked another friend who was dribbling a ball in the playground. She knew he often just hung around after school. “To help the librarian? I wish you’d told me earlier. I have to go to a relative’s house with my father. Some other day perhaps,” and with that Mohit fled. By now, Mini was beginning to doubt if even one of her friends would agree to stay. But she tried again. Three more friends and each one refused. Of course, no one said “no” outright. Mini was a great pal, after all. But each had a ‘reason’ why they couldn’t take her place that afternoon, and if only it were some other day… So, after school Mini stayed back to help the librarian, Ms Mathur. And, when the remote Ms Mathur found her crying after everyone had left, it was she who surprised Mini by allowing her to leave to meet her aunt. “Some popularity I have,” Mini murmured to herself, as she went home. “I may have many friends, but in reality I have none.”