DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Chinese firms backed by global banks found using leopards and pangolins parts, says environmental group
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —Three top Chinese pharmaceutical companies, which are backed by top global banks, are using endangered animal parts in their medicines, according to an investigation by an environmental protection group. Among them are three publicly listed traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) giants: Beijing Tong Ren Tang, Tianjin Pharmaceutical and Jilin Aodong Medicine. The EIA said it had found at least nine “products stated to contain leopard and/ or pangolin” that were manufactured by the firms. CNN has reached out to Tong Ren Tang, Tianjin Pharmaceutical and Jilin Aodong for comment. Tong Ren Tang, founded in 1669, is one of China’s most storied brands.

Persons: Beijing Tong Ren Tang, Avinash, Tong Ren Tang, ”, “ It’s, ” Basker, pangolins, Sakchai Lalit Organizations: Hong Kong CNN —, Environmental Investigation Agency, Tianjin Pharmaceutical, Jilin Aodong Medicine, EIA, CNN, TCM, Fortune, BlackRock, Citigroup, HSBC, Citi, IUCN SSC Pangolin Locations: China, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tianjin, Jilin, Bangkok

☆ Three Listed Chinese Firms Used Endangered Animal Parts as Ingredients Report
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Oct. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

In a report published Monday, the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency urged global investors in the three firms - Beijing Tong Ren Tang group, Tianjin Pharmaceutical group and Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group - to divest their stakes. The group said it focused on the pharmaceutical companies because they are publicly listed, and display products that include leopard or pangolin parts on their websites. Beijing Tong Ren Tang and Tianjin Pharmaceutical group did not respond to several emails and calls from Reuters asking for comment. Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group could not be reached for comment. The environmental group said Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, Citigroup and BlackRock did not respond to its queries.

Persons: Andrew Silver, Selena Li SHANGHAI, Beijing Tong Ren Tang, Avinash Basker, Wells, China's, Selena Li, Miyoung Kim, Miral Organizations: Reuters, UBS, HSBC, Environmental Investigation Agency, Tianjin Pharmaceutical, Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical, TCM, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, Citigroup, Co, HSBC Global Asset Management Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, BlackRock, Citigroup ， Deutsche Bank, Medical Products Administration, Protection Locations: HONG KONG, London, Beijing, Tianjin, Jilin, BlackRock, Shanghai, Hong Kong

In a report published Monday, the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency urged global investors in the three firms - Beijing Tong Ren Tang group (600085.SS), Tianjin Pharmaceutical group (600329.SS) and Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group (000623.SZ) - to divest their stakes. The group said it focused on the pharmaceutical companies because they are publicly listed, and display products that include leopard or pangolin parts on their websites. Beijing Tong Ren Tang and Tianjin Pharmaceutical group did not respond to several emails and calls from Reuters asking for comment. Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group could not be reached for comment. The environmental group said Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, Citigroup and BlackRock did not respond to its queries.

Persons: pangolin, Seun, Beijing Tong Ren Tang, Avinash Basker, Wells, China's, Andrew Silver, Selena Li, Miyoung Kim Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, UBS, HSBC, Environmental Investigation Agency, Tianjin Pharmaceutical, Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical, TCM, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, Citigroup, BlackRock, & Co, HSBC Global Asset Management Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Citigroup ， Deutsche Bank, Reuters, Medical Products Administration, Protection, Thomson Locations: Lagos, Nigeria, Rights SHANGHAI, HONG KONG, London, Beijing, Tianjin, Jilin, Shanghai, Hong Kong

☆ NASA’s next stop: An asteroid named for the Egyptian god of chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-30 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —After a nearly 4 billion-mile round trip, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully delivered NASA’s first asteroid sample to Earth. Across the universeAn artist's rendering shows OSIRIS-APEX kicking up dust so it can study Apophis. The space rock — named for the Egyptian god of chaos and darkness — was once considered to be one of the most potentially hazardous asteroid threats to Earth. Courtesy Narin ChomphuphuangA newly described tarantula species looks like it would be right at home slinging webs alongside Spider-Man. The electric blue tarantula, named Taksinus bambus, was found living in tree hollows in southern Thailand last year.

Persons: REx, NASA’s, Brian May, OSIRIS, —, Thomas Dressler, Frank Rubio, Rubio, Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, readjusting, “, ”, José Hernández, Taksinus bambus, Narin Chomphuphuang, James Webb, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Space Center, APEX, University of Arizona, Western, Soyuz, Space Station, NASA, Kaen University, CNN Space, Science Locations: Utah, Houston, Israel, Greece, Namibia, Southern, Spain, Thailand

☆ Newly discovered pangolin species could aid in fight against extinction
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Faye Chiu | Jenna Schnuer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

There are eight previously known species of pangolin — four found in Asia and four in Africa. Genomics can help protect threatened speciesThe scales’ form initially suggested they belonged to one of four species of pangolin found in Asia. But DNA analysis showed that their “genomic data provide robust and compelling evidence that it is a new pangolin species distinct from those previously recognized,” Hu said. An analysis of contraband pangolin scales revealed genetic markers not seen in known species, researchers said. “We also expect to find other pangolin species,” Hu said.

Persons: CNN —, —, ”, Jing, Yan Hu, pangolin, ” Hu, Aryn Wilder, Wilder, Manis mysteria, Feng Yang One, ” Wilder, “, Hu Organizations: CNN, State Key Laboratory for Conservation, Yunnan University, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Locations: Asia, Africa, Hong Kong, Yunnan

☆ The Ongoing Mystery of Covid’s Origin
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( David Quammen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

But as the researchers describe it, these apparent contradictions were simply a reflection of their fast-evolving views. It showed that such an RBD had evolved in the wild and might well have gotten into SARS-CoV-2 by recombination, the natural gene-swapping process. The genome was 96.2 percent identical to the SARS-CoV-2 genome as sampled from people during the early days of the pandemic. RaTG13 has attained renown, not just because it constituted strong evidence of SARS-CoV-2’s ancestry in bat viruses but also because the Mojiang mine figures in some of the more lurid scenarios for a lab-leak origin. The inference is that Shi’s team, a year after the mine workers died, may have taken the virus back to Wuhan.

Persons: Andersen, ”, Slack, Matt Wong, ” Andersen, Zhengli Shi, Shi, RaTG13 Organizations: Twitter, Nature, Wuhan Institute of Virology Locations: Houston, Yunnan Province, Wuhan, Tongguan, Mojiang, Yunnan

☆ The Elite South African Reserve That Allows Just a Handful of Safari Guests
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Mary Holland | Photography Andrew Morgan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An hour-and-a-half flight from Johannesburg, in northwest South Africa, sits the country’s largest private nature reserve. It’s a remote 441-square-mile tract of the Kalahari, where red soil rolls for miles into shrubland, savanna and low, rounded mountains that carve into the powder-blue sky. Despite the unforgiving landscape, this area has been the subject of an intensive restoration process for nearly three decades. What it lacks in abundance, it makes up for in rare wildlife, such as meerkats and pangolins. And endangered and threatened species are slowly starting to thrive—the desert black rhino and white rhino populations have quadrupled here since the animals were reintroduced 15 years ago.

Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa

☆ Yellow-crested cockatoos find an unlikely urban refuge in Hong Kong
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Hong Kong CNN —It’s dusk in Hong Kong Park. On a sweltering summer day in Hong Kong Park, nestled between skyscrapers in the urban center of the Asian metropolis, a yellow-crested cockatoo perches on a branch. Noemi Cassanelli/CNN Yellow-crested cockatoos nest in old trees, typically more than 100 years old, which form cavities in the trunk. Hong Kong, despite its urban sprawl and concrete veneer, is a stronghold for several endangered species, including Chinese pangolins, Hong Kong groupers, and the black-faced spoonbill. (According to the AFCD, it has “not received any report related to poaching of yellow-crested cockatoos in the past three years.”)Extremely picky about where they roost, the yellow-crested cockatoos use cavities that form in the trunks of trees that are typically older than 100 years.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, –, Astrid Andersson, it’s, ”, Andersson, Quadrupling, Noemi Cassanelli, Cassanelli, CNN Andersson, CNN There's, they’ve, “, Tom Booth, Fox, It’s, ’, Fiona Woodhouse, Woodhouse, Hong Kong’s, Jovy Chan, Chan, “ They’ve Organizations: CNN, Hong Kong CNN, Press, University of Hong, Timor Leste, International Trade, Fisheries, Conservation Department, CITES, Scottish wildcats, ADM Capital Foundation, Society for, Bird, Cultural Services Department, Facebook, Hong, SPCA HK, WWF Locations: Hong Kong, Swedish, Indonesia, Timor, Australia, University of Hong Kong, Hong, ”, Mainland China, HKD28,000, Indonesian

☆ China, birthplace of COVID, lays tracks for a new global health crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

Bat viruses have been the source of multiple health crises besides those related to coronaviruses, including recent outbreaks of Ebola, Nipah, and Marburg. Partners in risk The total area at high risk for bat viruses to infect humans more than doubled in size in Laos between 2002 and 2020. The animals, known to be susceptible to bat viruses, included raccoon dogs, bamboo rats and porcupines. As China boomed in recent decades, global demand for rubber also skyrocketed, leading to further development and deforestation here. Already, scientists have found local bats bearing viruses closely related to those responsible for the 2003 SARS and COVID-19 pandemics.

Search resuls for: "pangolins"

9 mentions found