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Prague: Czech officials confirmed Thursday the
country’s first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird-flu strain in
poultry, at a turkey farm in the center of the country.
“It is confirmed, it is
H5N1,” the spokesman for the State Veterinary Administration,
Zbynek Semerad, told Agence France-Presse.
Around 1,800 turkeys have already
died at the farm at Tisova, near the central town of Usti-nad-Orlici,
which has a flock of around 6,000 birds.
SRINAGAR: Business in Indian
Kashmir’s main commercial hub halted Friday as traders heeded
calls by Islamic militants to strike over Britain’s award of a
knighthood to author Salman Rushdie.
Shops in the main market in
Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, were shuttered
following calls by hardline separatist group Jamiat-ul-Mujahedin
to observe a strike.
“The Kashmiri nation has to
rise in one voice to show resentment against the shameful decision
[to award the knighthood] by observing a complete shutdown,” said
Jamiat spokesman Jameel Ahmed.
SHAH ALAM, Malaysia: The father
of a slain Mongolian woman told a Malaysian court Friday that he was
punched and kicked by the wife of a man on trial in connection with
her murder.
Setev Shaariibuu, who is
testifying in the murder trial of his daughter Altantuya Shaaribuu,
28, said the wife of Abdul Razak Baginda had punched him in the
stomach outside the courtroom Friday.
“Just now she [Mazlinda Makhzan]
hit me,” he said.
“Every time she passes me [in
the waiting room for witnesses], she kicks me. She is harassing and
cursing me since the trial started [Monday],” he said.
TAIPEI: Around 650,000 people in
Taiwan are expected to turn off their lights for up to an hour
Friday night to boost public awareness of global warming, an
organizer of the event said.
Some public buildings, including
the world’s tallest Taipei 101, would also join the “Lights Out
Day” campaign, said the Society of Wilderness, one of the
organizers.
Taiwan High Speed Rail planned to
dim decorative lights at six stations across the island for an hour,
it said, adding that Taipei 101’s lights would go off for just 10
minutes.
Canberra: The confirmation of the
December 2004 stand-off near the sea border between Iraq and Iran
followed a BBC report that the Australians repelled the Iranians by
training their guns on them and deploying “highly colorful
language.”
The incident was compared to the
March capture of 15 British sailors in similar circumstances in the
Gulf, which sparked a major diplomatic row between London and
Tehran. They were released nearly two weeks later.
NARATHIWAT: A Buddhist was shot
dead and 10 people, including five soldiers, wounded in bomb attacks
in Thailand’s restive Muslim-majority south, police said Friday.
Three marines were injured Friday
when a roadside bomb exploded in Narathiwat, one of three
violence-torn provinces bordering Malaysia, police said. One marine
lost his right leg in the blast.
As police and a forensics team
rushed to the scene, a second bomb went off nearby, but there were
no reports of casualties.
 --AFP
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