‘Stop eating dog meat’

Food safety officials in Ho Chi Minh City have urged locals to stop eating dog meat in an effort to improve the national image, an official on Monday said.
“This is advice, it’s not an order, so we haven’t introduced any fines,” Phan Thi Hoai Tran, head of communications at Ho Chi Minh City’s Food Safety Management Board, said.

Eating dog meat is not uncommon in Vietnam, yet while it is not illegal to eat dogs, the meat has never been formally included on the list of animals suitable for humans as a food, the watchdog claims.

Health risks associated with eating the meat include parasites that can affect internal organs, while chemicals found in poisons used to kill the dogs also threaten consumers, Associate Prof. Pham Khanh Phong-Lan, head of the board, told local media.

“Eating dog meat is not a good habit so people should kick it, especially in this era of international integration,” the Board said on its website last week.

Vietnam’s dog meat consumption has made it the target of animal welfare campaigns in the past, and the Asia Canine Protection Alliance estimates that five million of the animals are killed and eaten in the country annually.

Eating dog meat, however, is more common in Hanoi, which also attempted to curb dog meat consumption in 2018.

It is estimated that the capital is home to almost 500,000 dogs and cats, as well as around 1,000 restaurants and shops which sell their meat.(NAN)

Political newcomers claim win in Tunisian elections

Kais Saied, left Nabil Karoui (right) appear to be headed to the runoff in Tunisia’s presidential elections

With formal results yet to be announced, conservative law professor Kais Saied and detained media magnate Nabil Karoui cited exit polls late on Sunday to say they had advanced to a deciding run-off that will be held next month.

If confirmed by official results later on Monday or on Tuesday, it would represent a strong rejection of successive governments that have struggled to improve living standards or end corruption.

Saied described the exit poll results, which showed him with most votes, as “like a new revolution” in a radio interview, a reference to Tunisia’s 2011 uprising that brought in democracy and set off the Arab Spring revolts elsewhere.

Tunisia’s prime minister, two former prime ministers, the defence minister and a former president were among the political heavyweights competing, as was a candidate of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party.

“We received the message sent by the Tunisian people,” Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said late on Sunday, conceding defeat.

Banned before the revolution and once seen as the main anti-establishment force in Tunisia, Ennahda has been a big player in successive coalition governments caught between the public desire for more spending and a need to reduce debt.

With a low turnout of 45% – down from 63% in 2014 – the result underscored widespread frustration over the sluggish economy, high unemployment, poor public services and persistent corruption.

Karoui, in a message read by his wife after the exit polls were published, said it was a message to a political elite that he accuses of using the judicial process to try to silence him.

He was detained weeks before the election over allegations of tax evasion and money laundering made three years ago by a transparency watchdog.

“You punished those who tried to steal the votes by putting me in prison without trial, and who prevented me from speaking to people in the campaign,” his message said.

Africa.cgtn.com