UK bans import of German cattle, pigs and sheep to prevent foot and mouth disease spreading
Importing cattle, pigs and sheep into Great Britain from Germany has been banned to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease.
The ban is in response to a case of the disease being confirmed in a herd of water buffalo in Honow on the outskirts of Berlin on Friday.
It is Germany’s first outbreak of foot and mouth in 36 years and has seen the precautionary slaughter of 55 goats, sheep and cattle on a farm in Brandenburg state that had purchased hay from the buffalo farm.
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Several animal parks, including Berlin Zoo and Tierpark, the German capital’s other zoo, have closed as a precaution.
The UK government said that as well as the import of live cattle, pigs and sheep from Germany being banned, products from those animals would also not be allowed into the UK.
That includes fresh meat, milk and other animal products.
GB health certificates will no longer be issued for animals susceptible to foot and mouth disease, or for their products.
A bison at Tierpark Berlin, which has closed as a precaution. Pic: AP
The viral disease poses no risk to human or food safety but is highly contagious in cloven-hoofed animals such as cows, sheep and pigs.
There are no cases in the UK currently but the UK’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Christine Middlemiss, said the UK would use “all measures to limit the risk incursion and spread of this devastating disease”.
In 2001, the disease led to the culling of millions of animals in the UK and the loss of billions of pounds, prompting a crisis in British farming.
There were 2,000 cases but each case meant a farm having to kill and burn all its livestock, with more than six million sheep, cattle and pigs slaughtered.
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Staff in protective suits were seen at an animal park near Berlin. Pic: AP
Dr Middlemiss said: “We remain in constant contact with German counterparts to understand the latest situation following their confirmation of a single case of foot and mouth disease.
“We have robust contingency plans in place to manage the risk of this disease to protect farmers and Britain’s food security, which means using all measures to limit the risk incursion and spread of this devastating disease.
“I would urge livestock keepers to exercise the utmost vigilance for signs of disease, follow scrupulous biosecurity and report any suspicion of disease immediately to the Animal and Plant Health Agency.”
Wales’s chief veterinary officer, Richard Irvine, urged livestock owners to remain at “the highest levels of vigilance” to keep animal disease out of Wales.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said foot and mouth can cause significant economic losses to farmers as animals can have reduced milk yields and other countries will not allow them to be imported.
It warned farmers to be aware that clinical signs vary depending on the animals.
In cattle, the key signs are sores and blisters on the feet, mouth and tongue with potentially a fever, lameness and a reluctance to feed.
Sheep and pigs tend to show signs of lameness with potential blistering.
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
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The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
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The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
World
Israeli soldiers ‘psychologically broken’ after ‘confronting the reality’ in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
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Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
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‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
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The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
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