A second bird flu case has been discovered among poultry in southwestern South Korea, sparking fears that avian influenza might be spreading in this country, health authorities said yesterday.
The new outbreak was confirmed at a duck farm in Jeongeup, about 250km southwest of Seoul, where half of its 12,500 ducks have died since Monday, the agriculture ministry said.
The farm is 27km from a chicken farm where this year’s first bird flu outbreak was confirmed three days earlier.
“All the ducks there will be immediately culled and buried” said Kim Chang-seob, chief veterinary officer of the ministry.
Other ministry officials said workers would cull about 6,500 of the 12,000 or so ducks at the farm yesterday.
Further tests were required to determine if the virus was the H5N1 strain of bird flu.
“In normal circumstances, we’ll wait for the test results which will be available on Monday but we’ve decided to take action immediately,” he said.
The ministry has also imposed restrictions on the movement of some 1.8 million poultry being raised within a 10km radius of the Gimje duck farm. It has also banned distribution of 3.6 million animals within a 10km radius of the farm and ordered the destruction of eggs produced and already distributed in the area
The country has had seven outbreaks of the H5N1 strain between November 2006 and March last year and has spent 58.2 billion won (US$59.17 million) on quarantine measures.
Last June the World Organization for Animal Health classified the country as free from the disease.
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
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number