London

Survey: Tokyo, Osaka world’s costliest cities

Japan’s Tokyo and Osaka are the world’s most expensive cities with London in third place, according to a survey released Monday. New York, the most costly of American cities, placed 13th.

The annual report released in London on Monday ranked cities based on the comparative cost of more than 200 items, including housing, public and private transport, food, clothing and entertainment.

Surveys are conducted in 144 cities around the globe every March. All cities are compared to New York, which is automatically given a ranking of 100; Tokyo in comparison scored 135.

South America was home to the least expensive cities, with Asuncion, Paraguay, the cheapest of all surveyed cities.

Top 10 cities (with last year’s ranking):

1. Tokyo, Japan (1)

2. Osaka, Japan (4)

3. London, Britain (2)

4. Moscow, Russia (3)

5. Seoul, South Korea (7)

6. Geneva, Switzerland (6)

7. Zurich, Switzerland (9)

8. Copenhagen, Denmark (8)

9. Hong Kong, Hong Kong (5)

10. Oslo, Norway (15)

BEIJING

China says it will stop misuse of antiviral drug

China’s government said Tuesday it was dispatching experts to stop the misuse of an antiviral drug on poultry and denied a report that officials encouraged farmers to use it, possibly making it ineffective for treating deadly bird flu in humans.

“We’ll take measures soon to curb the action,” an Agriculture Ministry spokesman, Xu Shixin, was quoted as saying in the government-run China Daily newspaper.

The report didn’t say when or how widely the drug amantadine was misused or whether farmers still use it. Phone calls to the health and agriculture ministries on Tuesday weren’t answered.

Xu denied a report by The Washington Post that officials encouraged farmers to give amantadine to millions of chickens in their drinking water in the late 1990s to suppress bird flu outbreaks, the China Daily said.

Amantadine is meant for use only in humans.

The Post on Saturday cited researchers who said its misuse in poultry led to the rise of a drug-resistant form of the H5N1 virus found in Thailand and Vietnam.

The World Heath Organization asked the Chinese government on Monday for information about the report.

Asia’s latest bird flu outbreak began late last year and has killed 38 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia.

Lebanon

Coalition vows to use majority to bring unity

The anti-Syrian coalition that swept Lebanon’s parliamentary elections vowed Monday to fight corruption, boost the economy and work toward national unity in the tiny Mediterranean country plagued by sectarian tension.

Saad Hariri, the winning alliance’s Sunni Muslim leader and the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, said he’d make Lebanon stronger by building on the election alliances that crossed sectarian and ideological lines to usher his bloc into power. Supporters danced in the streets as the final results were announced on television, confirming the landslide victory that was predicted when polls closed Sunday night.

Hariri and his allies will dominate the 128-member legislature with 72 seats, according to results from the Interior Ministry. Hariri’s most formidable competitor was the alliance anchored by the Christian former army commander Michel Aoun, which picked up 21 spots.