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HANOI: Over 1,000 ducks in Vietnam’s central Quang
Binh province and six fowls in northern Tuyen Quang province died
over the past few days, and their specimens have been tested
positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, local media reported
Wednesday. Among a flock of 1,700 ducks raised by a household in
Quang Binh’s Le Thuy district, 1,030 died, and they were infected
with H5N1 according to tests of a local veterinary center, Pioneer
newspaper said.
--Xinhua
BEIJING: An almost complete human
skull dating back 80,000 to 100,000 years was unearthed in central
China, state media reported Wednesday. The skull, consisting of 16
pieces, was dug out last month after two years of excavation at a
site in Xuchang in Henan province, the China Daily said. The pieces
were fossilized because they were buried near the mouth of a spring
whose water had high calcium content, the paper said.
--AFP
BANGKOK: A military helicopter
crashed on Wednesday morning in Thailand’s northeastern province
of Srisaket Province while on duty, local FM 100 Traffic Radio
reported. The helicopter, which belongs to the Royal Thai Army,
crashed at about 10 a.m. (0300 GMT) due to mechanical problems. A
pilot and an engineer managed to escape before the crash.
--Xinhua
MARGRAM, India: India’s West
Bengal state said Wednesday it was falling behind in its attempts to
halt the spread of bird flu as thousands more poultry deaths were
reported from new areas. About 2,000 more veterinarians and health
workers are needed to help kill up to two million birds in the
battle against the poultry virus outbreak that began more than a
week ago, the state’s animal resources minister said.
--AFP
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd Wednesday wrapped up talks with the Solomon Islands’
new leader Derek Sikua designed to repair frayed relations, saying
he wanted stronger ties to the Pacific nation. Relations between
Canberra and Honiara soured last year after then Solomons Prime
Minister Manasseh Sogavare refused to extradite his attorney
general, Julian Moti, to Australia to face child sex charges. Sikua,
who came to power last month, oversaw Moti’s deportation to
Australia as part of the new government’s policy of improving the
strained relations with Canberra.
--AFP
NAIROBI: Former UN chief Kofi
Annan is set to meet Kenya’s feuding political parties in Nairobi
on Wednesday to help resolve the impasse which has plunged the east
African nation into a crisis. Annan who arrived on Tuesday night and
said he has not come with solution warned it would be a disaster if
Kenya lost its place as “a haven of African stability.” “We
are here to insist on a solution for the sake of Kenya and its
people and for the sake of Africa,” Annan told a news conference
late Tuesday.
--xinhua
BRUSSELS: The European Commission
is set to unveil Wednesday sweeping plans to fight global warming,
under heavy fire from industry and many EU member countries over the
costs of the scheme. The details remain to be finalized at a meeting
of the EU executive arm Wednesday morning, with the package to be
presented to the European Parliament by Commission chief Jose Manuel
Barroso after 1100 GMT. He has said that the cost of the package
would amount to a total of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product
(GDP), or around 60 billion euros ($86.6 billion) annually.
--AFP
TEHRAN: Iran’s conservative
vetting body the Guardians Council has disqualified more than half
of the reformist candidates for March parliamentary polls, the
Reformists’ Coalition spokesman told AFP on Wednesday. “In some
provinces more than 70 percent of our candidates were rejected. We
can say more than 50 percent of our candidates were disqualified
throughout the country,” Abdollah Nasseri said. Inspired by former
president Mohammad Khatami, the coalition brings together 21
pro-reform groups, including the largest reformist party, Islamic
Iran’s Participation Front (IIPF), and the Organization of Islamic
Revolution Mujahedeen.
--AFP
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