MADRID: Eight more wild boar with suspected cases of African swine fever were discovered near Barcelona, La Vanguardia newspaper reported on Sunday, as Spain struggles to limit the damage to a pork export industry worth billions of euros a year.
The newspaper cited sources close to the Catalan agriculture ministry. Two cases have been confirmed, and 12 others have shown signs they may also have the disease but are undergoing tests to confirm this. If confirmed, it would bring the number of infected animals to 14.
Reuters was unable to reach the Catalan government for comment.
About a third of Spanish pork export certificates have been blocked after the first outbreak of swine fever in Spain — the European Union’s top pork producer — since 1994, Spain’s agriculture minister said on Saturday.
“Of the 400 export certificates to 104 countries, a third are blocked. We are working to open them as quickly as possible,” Agriculture Minister Luis Planas told a press conference.
Planas said the value of the country’s pork exports is 8.8 billion euros ($10.2 billion) a year. “Our task is to keep international markets open,” he added.
African swine fever is not harmful to humans but spreads rapidly among pigs and wild boar. A number of countries have already reacted to its spread in Spain.
Taiwan’s agriculture ministry said on Saturday it had banned all pork products and live pig imports, while China has banned pork imports from Barcelona province, a Chinese Customs document seen by Reuters showed.
Britain on Friday said it would temporarily stop imports of pork meat from Catalonia, and Mexico has suspended imports of pork products from Spain.
Eight more suspected swine fever cases as Spain struggles to limit export damage
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Eight more suspected swine fever cases as Spain struggles to limit export damage
- About a third of Spanish pork export certificates have been blocked after the first outbreak of swine fever in Spain
- African swine fever is not harmful to humans but spreads rapidly among pigs and wild boar
Changes to US security strategy ‘largely consistent’ with Russia’s vision: Kremlin
- Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones”
MOSCOW: Russia has welcomed changes in the US National Security Strategy, saying the adjustments that marked a radical departure from Washington’s previous policy were “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision.
Washington’s new National Security Strategy, published early Friday, took aim at allies in Europe, calling it over-regulated, lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilizational erasure” due to immigration.
The document stated that the United States would also prevent other powers from dominating but added: “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.”
Commenting on the new US strategy, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones.”
“The adjustments we’re seeing, I would say, are largely consistent with our vision,” Peskov said in an interview with state TV station Rossiya aired Sunday.
“President Trump is currently strong in terms of domestic political positions. And this gives him the opportunity to adjust the concept to suit his vision,” Peskov added.
The publication of the updated security strategy came as officials from Kyiv held talks in Florida with Trump’s envoys on the US-drafted plan to end the near four-year war in Ukraine.
Three days of talks produced no apparent breakthrough.
President Volodymyr Zelensky committed to further negotiations toward “real peace,” as Russia in the early hours of Saturday launched another series of drone and missile strikes at Ukraine.
Zelensky is due to meet with European leaders — French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — in London on Monday to take stock of the negotiations.
