The human toll from bird flu reached 31 yesterday when Thai-land confirmed a nine-year-old girl died from the disease, while Indonesia announced it was among the countries still struggling with Asia's continuing outbreaks.
In Malaysia, which escaped the first wave of the bird flu crisis early this year but reported an outbreak last month, authorities in northern Kelantan state said they were having trouble chasing down chickens for culling at farms where the birds are often allowed to roam free, perching on trees or creeping into bushes.
Kanda Srilueng-On, aged nine, died overnight at a hospital in Phetchabun province only hours after tests confirmed she was stricken with the disease, the Thai Health Ministry said yesterday. She was believed to have caught the disease from infected chickens, and had helped pluck feathers from slaughtered chickens that her family had raised.
The girl's death brought to 11 the number of human deaths in Thailand, which went on high alert last week after reporting its first probable case of human-to-human transmission of the disease. In Vietnam, the only other country to suffer human cases of the virus, 20 people have died.
In addition, more than 100 million chickens and poultry have been killed by the disease or been culled in efforts to curb its spread since the bird flu crisis erupted through much of Asia early this year.
Indonesian officials said yesterday that the virus had again resurfaced in Java, killing 350 chickens and prompting officials to urge further vaccinations. Tests on dead birds showed they had the dangerous H5N1 strain, livestock officials were quoted in the Jakarta Post as saying.
World health officials worry that the longer it takes to contain outbreaks in poultry, the more chances the virus will have to jump to humans and mix with a human influenza virus to form a version that easily passes from person-to-person. However, health experts say there's no evidence to suggest that has happened yet, even in the case of probable human-to-human transmission reported in Thailand.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of