This is Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
Chinese authorities could freeze assets and take other actions against foreign hackers threatening the country&`&s infrastructure under a revised draft of a new cyber security law.
The law has been submitted for its third and final reading by the Standing Committee of the National People&`&s Congress, China&`&s legislature.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that the draft would allow police and other agencies to freeze assets and apply "other necessary punishment" against foreign hackers. It will also require expanded security measures for industries including public communications, energy and finance.
The Associated Press reports that Cyber security has been a top source of friction between China and the United States, with both saying they suffer hacking attacks originating from the other. Chinese officials have long characterized their country as the top victim of hacking and have called for expanded law enforcement powers and more stringent regulations on imported technological equipment.
If passed in its current form, the cyber security law could introduce new rules about how Chinese citizens&`& data is stored, as well as expand data access and censorship powers for law enforcement.
Foreign technology companies, particularly Silicon Valley giants with a stake in the Chinese market, worry that the rules have a secondary motive of protecting the domestic technology sector by discouraging Chinese buyers in both the private and public sectors from purchasing foreign products.
This is Special English.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved the commercial planting of two types of potatoes that are genetically engineered to resist the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine.
The approval covers Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Company&`&s Ranger Russet and Atlantic varieties of the company&`&s second generation of Innate potatoes.
The company says the potatoes will also have reduced bruising and black spot, enhanced storage capacity, and a reduced amount of a chemical created when potatoes are cooked at high temperatures which is a potential carcinogen.
A company spokesman says the company is very proud of the development.
The potatoes next must clear a voluntary review process through the Food and Drug Administration as well as get the OK from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The company says it expects those approvals in January with the potatoes entering the market next spring.
The two varieties join a third variety with the same traits called the Russet Burbank that has already attained approval from the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration, with the Environmental Protection Agency approval also expected in January.
The company said the potatoes contain only potato genes, and that the resistance to late blight, the disease that caused the Irish potato famine, comes from an Argentinian variety of potato that naturally produced a defense.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
For the third time, the U.S. firm "Johnson & Johnson" has been hit with a multimillion-dollar jury verdict over whether the talc in its iconic baby powder causes ovarian cancer when applied regularly for feminine hygiene.
A St. Louis jury awarded 70 million U.S. dollars to Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California, who was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 2012. Giannecchini, who was then 59 years old, said she had used Johnson&`&s Baby Powder for more than 40 years to keep her genital area dry, as many women do. She blamed it for her cancer and accused "Johnson & Johnson" of negligence.
Two other jury trials in St. Louis reached similar outcomes earlier this year, awarding the plaintiffs 72 million and 55 million dollars respectively.
But in Johnson & Johnson&`&s home state of New Jersey, a judge recently threw out two other cases, ruling there wasn&`&t reliable evidence to prove talc causes ovarian cancer, a relatively rare disease.
"Johnson & Johnson" says its product is safe, and it is appealing all three losses. And investors don&`&t seem worried that Johnson & Johnson is in financial trouble, even though the company faces an estimated 2,000 similar lawsuits.
The next trial is set to start in January, also in St. Louis.
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