AFP

Israeli scientists have created egg-laying hens that only produce females, a breakthrough that could help end the annual culling of around seven billion male chicks globally. 

The chicks, born from egg-laying, are destroyed en masse by suffocation or crushing because they are not suitable for meat production and do not lay eggs. 

Animal rights activists have denounced the practice as barbaric, and it has been banned in several European states. 

A German prohibition on male chick culling came into effect this year. French farmers have until year’s end to comply with new restrictions. 

A team at the Israeli Agricultural Research Organization-Volcani Center has used gene editing to develop hens that only gives birth to females. 

Except for this vital change, they are “completely identical to the breed of hens that lay edible eggs and are currently used in agriculture,” according to Huminn, the American-Israeli firm which partnered with the Volcani Center.

The researchers say this is the only option to substantially curb mass male chick culling around the world. 

“This is a world first and the only solution that is easy for industry players to implement,” team leader Yuval Cinnamon, a Volcani Center embryologist, told AFP. 

He said technologies that seek to identify whether an egg is carrying a male or female embryo are not reliable.

The Volcani Center, based in the Tel Aviv suburbs, developed the technique following seven years of research with Huminn, which in part specialises in commercially viable sustainable food production. 

– ‘Most serious problem’ –     

The technology involves genetically modifying egg-laying hens so that, when carrying male embryos, those do not progress and hatch. 

“After fertilisation the male embryos do not develop, and the female embryos develop normally without being genetically modified and hatch normally,” Cinnamon explained. 

“This will provide a real answer to what is probably the most serious animal welfare problem in the world today,” he added.

Beyond the animal rights benefits, the technology could offer poultry producers huge savings in terms of the space and energy required to operate incubators while reducing the significant culling costs. 

“It costs a dollar to cull each male chick, so that’s seven billion in savings a year,” Cinnamon said.

Huminn has forecast that commercial benefits from the technology could emerge within two years. 

At a meeting in October, European Union agriculture ministers said they would consider a bloc-wide ban on culling male chicks from egg-laying hens, pending the results of an impact assessment. 

The US Commerce Department on Thursday blacklisted 36 Chinese companies including top producers of advanced computer chips, severely restricting their access to American technology.

The move, which included semiconductor makers Cambricon and Yangtze Memory Technologies, aimed to limit China’s “efforts to obtain and leverage advanced technologies including artificial intelligence for its military modernization efforts and human rights violations,” the Commerce Department said.

The companies’ placement on the so-called Entity List makes it nearly impossible for them to legally acquire directly or indirectly US semiconductor manufacturing technology, designs and other intellectual property, hampering their production potential.

Of the 36 names, 21 are identified as major firms involved in the research and design, marketing and sales of artificial intelligence chips with close ties to the Chinese defense sector.

Seven are linked to the Chinese military’s efforts to develop hypersonic and ballistic missile systems.

One of the companies, Tianjin Tiandi Weiye Technologies, was placed on the Entity List for its alleged role in “China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance” against Uyghurs and other minorities in the western Xinjiang region.

The Entity List additions Thursday further the Biden administration’s efforts to deny China “access to advanced technologies for military modernization and human rights abuses,” Assistant Secretary of Commerce Thea Rozman Kendler said in a statement.

The announcement, the most recent in a series of US actions seeking to limit China’s access to sensitive US technologies, came just days after Beijing filed a dispute claim at the World Trade Organization against Washington’s restrictive policies.

China commerce ministry on Monday accused the United States of “obstructing normal international trade in products including chips and threatening the stability of the global industrial supply chain,” as well as violating international trade rules and engaging in “protectionist practices.”

Speaking on Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the United States has “repeatedly used national security as an excuse to interfere in the normal operation of international trade.”

“All countries should stand up and not let Washington’s unilateralism and protectionism go unchecked,” Wang said. “This concerns the stability of the global trade system and more importantly, international justice.”

In October more than 30 Chinese high-tech companies were placed on the US Entity List, with officials saying they did not want American technology helping the Pentagon’s top rival, the Chinese military.

The Commerce Department’s rules require any US firm seeking to sell its technology to a Chinese company on the list to obtain a special permit, and getting those permits is almost impossible.

“With the latest rules, the US government is betting that it can so deeply undermine China’s semiconductor fabrication capabilities that it won’t matter how motivated or well-resourced China’s efforts are to create its own semiconductor industry — they simply won’t be able to catch up,” wrote Matt Sheehan, a global technology specialist at the Carnegie endowment for International Peace.

The US announced financial sanctions targeting one of Russia’s wealthiest men, Vladimir Potanin, the Treasury Department and State Department said Thursday, adding to efforts that curb Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine.

The actions follow earlier moves by Washington to isolate Russia from the global financial system, and are expected to complement those of the US’s partners, according to authorities.

“The Department of State is imposing sanctions on Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs and a close associate of President (Vladimir) Putin, as well as three members of his immediate family and his company, Interros,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The department is also identifying Potanin’s yacht, Nirvana, as blocked property, he said.

Meanwhile, the designation of Rosbank and other entities related to Russia’s financial sector “are part of the US government’s efforts to further limit (Russia’s) ability to fund its unconscionable war of choice against Ukraine,” the Treasury Department added in a statement.

It is sanctioning 18 entities in its latest move, with Rosbank in particular being a Russia-based commercial bank that Potanin acquired earlier this year, and seen as a key credit institution.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is also targeting 17 subsidiaries of Russia’s second-largest bank, VTB Bank, the department said.

“By sanctioning additional major Russian banks, we continue to deepen Russia’s isolation from global markets,” said Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson.

– ‘Clear message’ –

The Treasury Department’s actions run alongside the State Department’s moves to designate Potanin, his network and more than 40 more people linked to the government in Moscow.

Blinken said Thursday that officials also took aim at “29 Russian heads of regions and governors, two of their family members, and an entity owned by one of the family members.” 

“These governors oversee and enforce the conscription of citizens in response to Russia’s recent mobilization order,” he added.

He said the US’s actions “are a clear message that the United States will not hesitate to continue to use the tools at our disposal to promote an end to, and accountability for,” Putin’s war.

Potanin formerly served as a Deputy Prime Minister for the Russian Federation, and has direct ties to Putin, according to the State Department.

The actions come after similar moves were taken against Potanin and his network by Britain and Canada, the State Department said.

The European Central Bank opted for a smaller interest rate increase of half a percentage point on Thursday but warned of more hikes to come in the “long game” to tame red-hot inflation.

The ECB has been lifting borrowing rates at an unprecedented pace in recent months to bring down record-high consumer prices after Russia’s war in Ukraine sent energy and food costs surging.

Following two consecutive “jumbo” hikes of 75 basis points, the ECB’s governing council agreed to downshift to an increase of 50 basis points at its final meeting of 2022.

The move mirrors the half-point steps taken by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, and the Bank of England earlier on Thursday.

But ECB president Christine Lagarde warned that inflation in the 19-nation eurozone was still “far too high” and more action needed to be taken. 

“We have more ground to cover, we have longer to go and we are in for a long game,” Lagarde told reporters. 

Interest rates will still have to “rise significantly at a steady pace,” she said, adding that the eurozone should expect further rises “at 50 basis-point pace for a period of time”.

Eurozone inflation eased in November for the first time in 17 months, partly thanks to efforts by European governments to shield consumers from energy price shocks.

At 10 percent however, inflation remains five times higher than the ECB’s target.

ING bank economist Carsten Brzeski said the ECB’s comments were “surprisingly hawkish”.

The ECB’s closely-watched bank deposit rate — one of its three main rates — will now finish the year at 2.0 percent, the highest level since 2008.

– ‘Short-lived and shallow’ –

“The ECB is now more worried about tightening too little and would accept some short-term economic pain to bring inflation back to target,” said Berenberg Bank economist Salomon Fiedler.

Like other central banks, the ECB is walking a fine line as it seeks to raise borrowing costs enough to cool inflation without dampening demand so much it triggers a deep economic downturn.

The ECB’s latest quarterly projections on Thursday showed that the eurozone economy was expected to contract in the final quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.

But the ECB said the winter recession would likely be “relatively short-lived and shallow”, echoing analysts’ expectations as households and businesses feel the impact of government interventions and gas storage facilities are fuller than usual at this time of year.

The ECB however slashed its outlook for economic growth in 2023, from 0.9 percent previously to 0.5 percent. Stronger growth of 1.9 percent should then be achieved for 2024, it said. 

“The war against Ukraine and its people remains a significant downside risk to the economy,” Lagarde cautioned.

The Frankfurt institution also unveiled its first-ever inflation projection for 2025, set to come in at 2.3 percent.

While still above the ECB’s two-percent target, it’s a far cry from the 6.3 percent inflation projected in 2023, followed by 3.4 percent in 2024. 

Both are higher figures than previously forecast.

Lagarde acknowledged the “substantial upward revision” on inflation, the latest in a long line as the ECB faces criticism for having consistently underestimated price pressures in recent months.

Lagarde added that the bank was keeping a close eye on wage growth, as workers demand salary increases to keep up with higher prices for goods and services.

The ECB sees wages growing “at rates well above historical averages, and pushing up inflation”, Lagarde said.

– Bloated portfolio –

The ECB also opened up another front in its battle against high inflation, outlining for the first time when and how it plans to start slimming down its five-trillion-euro bond portfolio after years of hoovering up corporate and government debt.

The bank said it would stop reinvesting the proceeds from some maturing bonds from March, reducing its balance sheet by 15 billion euros per month on average though June.

Further details of the “quantitative tightening” plan will be announced in February.

Industrial production in the US slumped in November with “broad based” decreases, the Federal Reserve said Thursday, as output for bigger-ticket consumer products and manufacturing fell.

While tangled supply chains and surging costs which weighed on businesses are easing, in a boost to production, firms are now contending with weakening demand as interest rates rise.

The Fed has raised its benchmark lending rate seven times this year in an effort to cool the world’s biggest economy, making borrowing more expensive with policy effects rippling across sectors.

Total output dropped 0.2 percent in November, with the first decline in months defying analysts’ expectations of an uptick, according to Fed data.

“Decreases were broad based across market groups,” the report said.

It added that the output of consumer durables fell about two percent, referring to products that do not have to be purchased very often. The decline was led by automotive goods.

Manufacturing output dropped 0.6 percent as well, while that of mining fell 0.7 percent, only partly offset by a rebound in utilities, the Fed added.

“Headline production was flattered by a weather-related 4.8 percent jump in utilities output, which is hugely volatile,” said economist Kieran Clancy of Pantheon Macroeconomics in a note.

The main factor bogging down manufacturing output is likely “softening capital spending, in the wake of higher borrowing costs,” he added.

“The next few months will be rough; the downturn in manufacturing output has further to run,” he said.