The People's Daily
Chinese president asks senior officials to promote rural development
Chinese President Hu Jintao Tuesday asked provincial and ministerial heads to attach importance and take concrete actions to boost rural development.
"Building a socialist new countryside is a major historic mission set by our Party," Hu Jintao, who is also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, told a seminar on building a socialist new countryside.
He asked all CPC members and the whole nation to work jointly to make the drive "a project for the people" that truly benefits the vast number of farmers.
Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun and Luo Gan also attended the opening ceremony chaired by Zeng Qinghong, a members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice Chinese president and president of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/15/eng20060215_242783.html
Presidents' new energy dreams
Energy issue again ascends to the top priority of presidents' agenda in various nations in the first two months of this year.
French President Jacques Chirac has declared the development of civilian nuclear reactors to safeguard the country's energy security in preparation for the post-oil era. American President George W. Bush has shifted emphasis on his new energy policy, Advanced Energy Initiative. Japan also plans to release its New National Energy Strategy to reduce its oil dependence rate to 40% or below the current 50%.
Apart from above, energy issue has been listed on the agenda of the EU Summit to be held in late March. What's more, energy will be the centerpiece on the G-8 Summit to be held in June in St. Petersburg.
Apparently when many leaders in industrialized countries made their wishes for prosperity in the new year, they also spoken up their "new energy dreams". Among them, US President Bush's "energy independence" policy aroused the biggest attention.
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/15/eng20060215_243022.html
WB offers loan to renewable energy project in China
The World Bank has approved an 86.33 million US dollar loan to scale up China's use of renewable energy as the country's demand for power increases, the bank said Wednesday.
The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved the follow-up project to the 2005 China Renewable Energy Scale-Up Program Phase 1, which would develop a large wind farm in the China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and rehabilitate and develop selected small hydropower projects in Zhejiang Province, the bank said in a statement.
The bank said the overall renewable energy scale-up program aims to develop the Chinese commercial market for energy suppliers to provide renewable energy to the electricity grid on a large scale in an efficient and cost-effective way. Renewable energy sources like wind power, solar power, and biomass have up to now been produced only in small-scale, pilot programs, outside the main electricity supply.
Noureddine Berrah, lead energy specialist, said "China's energy demands and its need to decrease air pollution make large-scale renewable energy development an important goal."
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/09/eng20060209_241234.html
Farewell to the "oil era"?
The Swedish government has recently announced its resolution to end its dependence on oil by 2020 through the development of renewable energies. This is a brave and great goal. While other countries think it's impossible, the Swedish have determined to say goodbye to oil.
Meanwhile, in his State of the Union Address, US President George W. Bush also said that the US must break its addiction to oil and replace over 75 % of its oil imports from the Middle East by 2025 through technology.
Currently, 60% of global energy supply comes from oil and natural gas. Oil has become a strategic resource. With the sustained growth of world economy, oil supply faces new test. Geo-political situation in oil production regions has become increasingly complicated. Some analysts think the world has entered an ' insecure era in energy'. It's estimated that 64 out of 100 oil production countries have passed their peak production period while the world oil supply will reach its peak between 2010 and 2020, and then begin to decline.
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/13/eng20060213_242387.html
Opinion: Pentagon's prejudice
A recent comment in Washington Post has pointed out that the US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is shortsighted, especially in his political insight.
The article refers to the recent "Quadrennial Defense Review" submitted by the US Department of Defense to ask to develop long-range bombers and offensive submarines, buy three kinds of short range aircraft including F/A22, and build more destroyers and aircraft carriers, making the budget for weapons purchase in 2007 reach US $84 billion. The article accused such increasing military expenditure for "possible threat" from other countries including China of squandering money because neither China nor any other country constitutes a danger to America's military advantage so far. The report can only make the stocks of the military weapons companies increase drastically.
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/15/eng20060215_243028.html
The question of civilization in war: Comment
The British newspaper News of the World on Feb.12 reported an incident of British soldiers beating teenage Iraqis two years ago and related video has been widely broadcast. Following the exposal of US troops' abuse of prisoners in Iraq British soldiers' brutal acts in the war in Iraq gradually come to light, which leads to shocks as well as contemplation.
The British soldiers' brutal behavior happened two years ago. During the two years, neither those in question, witnesses nor those who learned of it later viewed this as brutal or shameful. Otherwise, the incident wouldn't take two years before it is exposed. Rather, it caused clamor and shocks in the society two years later, after it was exposed in the form of video evidence. There is a big difference in response between the two, which perhaps can be attributed to the difference between "war culture" and "peace culture". In other words, things intolerable in a normal and peaceful society can happen quite often in a war environment and be viewed as normal.
The distortion of human nature and mentality by war is indeed an issue worthy of serious studies. It is believed that the US and British troops' brutality can't be limited to the few incidents caught by the camera and there must be much more unrecorded by the camera, only these have been ignored, tolerated and wrapped up in the special war environment. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's explanation for this -- "most British soldiers are good" -- is too juvenile.
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/15/eng20060215_243027.html
China finish 2-3 in women's 500m speed skating
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/15/eng20060215_242910.html
Chinese figure skating pairs win silver, bronze in Turin
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/14/eng20060214_242600.html
China denies arrest of any individual for releasing online comment
China's government denied the arrest of any individual for "just releasing his comment on the Internet", implying that any online comment shouldn't challenge nation's regulations and laws.
"Since 2000, China has enacted serial regulations and laws for Internet service providers, by which China manages its Internet market in line with international conventions," said Liu Zhengrong, an official with the Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council Information Office.
Liu gave the remark in response to questions raised by foreign reporters who had expected him to confirm a case in which reportedly a Chinese dissident was arrested for releasing comment on the Internet at a press conference held on Tuesday.
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/15/eng20060215_242784.html
The San Francisco Chronicle
Cheney Breaks Silence on Hunting Accident
By NEDRA PICKLER and LYNN BREZOSKY, Associated Press Writers
02-15) 12:24 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday accepted full blame for shooting a fellow hunter and defended his decision to not publicly disclose the accident until the following day. He called it "one of the worst days of my life."
"I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry," Cheney told Fox News Channel in his first public comments since the shooting Saturday in south Texas.
Cheney described seeing 78-year-old Harry Whittington fall to the ground after he pulled the trigger while aiming at a covey of quail.
"The image of him falling is something I'll never ever be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said. "I fired, and there's Harry falling. It was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life at that moment."
Cheney was soft-spoken and somber during the interview with Fox's Brit Hume.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/15/national/w115613S91.DTL
Cheney Could Face Charges in Shooting
(02-15) 11:47 PST DALLAS (AP) --
If the man wounded by Dick Cheney dies, the vice president could — in theory at least — face criminal charges, even though the shooting was an accident.
Dallas defense attorney David Finn, who has been a state and a federal prosecutor, said Wednesday that a Texas grand jury could bring a charge of criminally negligent homicide if there is evidence the vice president knew or should have known "there was a substantial or unjustifiable risk that his actions would result in him shooting a fellow hunter."
"The risk must be of such a nature and degree that it got to be pretty outrageous — that a reasonable person would have to say, `I am not pulling the trigger because this other guy might be in front of me,'" Finn said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/15/national/w114746S90.DTL
Cheney Cited for Breaking Hunting Law
Vice President Dick Cheney has been given a warning citation for breaking Texas hunting law by failing to buy a $7 stamp allowing him to shoot upland game birds.
The warning came from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after it investigated Cheney's accidental shooting of a fellow quail hunter Saturday on the private Armstrong Ranch in the south part of the state.
The department found the accident was caused by a "hunter's judgment factor" when Cheney sprayed another hunter while aiming at flying birds.
The report said the victim, prominent Republican attorney Harry Whittington of Austin, was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing with Cheney. "Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," the report said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/13/national/w233828S25.DTL
Parents upset with one-year sentence for molesting coach
Parents of three former Alameda high school girls basketball players expressed outrage today at a judge who only sentenced their former coach to one year in county jail for molesting the girls numerous times.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon said he didn't think it would be appropriate for 32-year-old Tanda Rucker, the daughter of former Berkeley City Manager Weldon Rucker, to be sent to state prison for 18 felony counts of penetration with a foreign object and oral copulation with minors.
Rucker could have been sentenced to more than 14 years in state prison, but Reardon instead sentenced Rucker to one year at the Cornell Corrections Institute in El Monte, where she will be able to spend her days working for her family's movie production company, which produced the award-winning movie "Ray," which is about the singer Ray Charles.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2006/02/15/rucker15.DTL
Linger Brothers Win Luge; Americans Crash
(02-15) 10:59 PST CESANA, Italy (AP) --
Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger won the gold medal in doubles luge Wednesday, while the American team of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin crashed in their opening run to end any chances of winning a third Olympic medal.
The Lingers finished the two-run event in 1 minute, 34.497 seconds. Germany's Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich won the silver, 0.31 seconds back. Italy got its second luge medal of the Turin Games, with Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder winning bronze, 0.433 seconds off the winning time.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/15/sports/s091630S66.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Same-sex marriage still a hot topic
Weddings in S.F. City Hall made debate national
Two years after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered city officials to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, debate over whether the move helped or hurt same-sex marriage is still lively.
Gay rights activists point to the national conversation it started and to same-sex couples in four other states who were inspired to demand marriage licenses. Those couples sued when they were turned away, and the cases are working through courts, just as San Francisco's are. In Washington state, the State Supreme Court will rule on the issue in the coming weeks.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/15/BAGCJH8FGP1.DTL
An interesting selection of articles from JAMA
Highlights From This Issue
http://jama.ama-assn.o
The New Zealand Herald
Anti-mining protestors target Solid Energy HQ
15.02.06 1.00pm
Anti-mining protesters were demonstrating from the roof of state coal miner Solid Energy's Christchurch headquarters this morning.
Save Happy Valley Coalition members scaled the building overnight and have hung banners from the facade, calling for Solid Energy to abandon plans for an open cast coal mine near Westport.
Coalition members began an indefinite occupation of land adjoining the Cypress mine site on January 28, claiming the proposed mine will destroy the habitat of the endangered great spotted kiwi and other threatened species.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10368496
Dalai Lama envoys talk with China
16.02.06 8.00am
Envoys of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, arrived in China last night for secretive talks on allowing more autonomy for the Buddhist region, Tibet's government-in-exile said.
It was the fifth round of talks since contacts between China and the Dalai Lama's representatives resumed in 2002.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368610
US soldiers' remains head home from Vietnam
16.02.06 6.00am
The remains of four United States Army soldiers who died together 35 years ago in Laos during the Vietnam War have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial, the Pentagon said.
The soldiers were lost on March 20, 1971, on a mission to extract troops in Savannakhet, when their Huey helicopter was hit by enemy ground fire.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368609
US had terrorist Atta tagged
16.02.06 5.00am
Data from a secret US military intelligence unit called Able Danger showed it had terrorist Mohammed Atta in its cross-hairs 13 times before the September 11 attacks, Republican Representative Curt Weldon said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368611
Nazi officer accused of Genoa massacre dies aged 97
15.02.06
HAMBURG - Friedrich Engel, a former Nazi SS officer known as the "Butcher of Genoa", has died aged 97.
His wife has confirmed that he died 10 days ago, and he was buried in Hamburg last week, the city's prosecutor's office said.
Engel was convicted in the city of 59 counts of murder in 2002. He received a 6-year suspended sentence.
The court ruled he had ordered the execution of Italian naval commandos on May 19, 1944. Engel, the head of the SS security service in the city, insisted he merely "observed" the executions, and did not supervise them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368342
UN asks Lebanon about reports of arms to guerillas
15.02.06 5.00pm
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations has asked Lebanon to explain reports of arms shipments crossing the Syrian border destined for the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah.
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a foe of Syria, said over the weekend that truckloads of arms and missiles had crossed the border intended for "armed groups" inside Lebanon. He alleged that the Lebanese army intercepted the shipment but allowed delivery to Hizbollah and possibly Palestinian groups.
The army said on Monday Jumblatt was incorrect and the weapons had been stocked inside Lebanon and shipped south to the "Lebanese resistance."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368514
US State Dept. to push for online free speech
15.02.06 1.00pm
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON - The US State Department today said it had set up a task force to help US technology companies protect freedom of expression in countries like China that censor online content.
State Department officials said they will push to encourage foreign countries to allow greater freedom of expression online and help US businesses figure out what to do when called on to enforce repressive laws in countries where they operate.
"Many technology companies ... want to work to help those who lack the freedom that we often take for granted," said Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, a member of the task force. "If we band together, we can make significant progress on this issue."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368501
Japanese battle bizarre trend of internet suicides
16.02.06
By David McNeill
TOKYO - Young Japanese are joining group-suicide pacts in record numbers despite efforts to crack down on the bizarre internet-led phenomenon.
Police said that a record 91 people committed suicide together after meeting through the internet last year, up from 55 in 2004. The figure has tripled since the records began in 2003.
Most of the victims were in their teens, 20s and 30s and sought each other out on websites that allow the suicidal to swap emails and offer advice on the least painful ways to die.
Many opt for carbon monoxide poisoning in sealed vehicles, often in secluded or scenic areas, like four men who died while watching the sun rise at the foot of Mount Fuji. The men met for the first time just hours before.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368588
Global Christian group urges end to cartoon furore
15.02.06 1.00pm
The head of the World Council of Churches today called for joint efforts by Christians and Muslims to "put out the fire" provoked by the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
The council's General Secretary Rev. Samuel Kobia said both the violent protests in response to the cartoons and the attempts to justify them as an expression of freedom of speech were wrong.
"When it (freedom of speech) is used to humiliate people's values and dignity, it devalues the foundation it is based on," said Kobia, a Kenyan Methodist, speaking at council's assembly in Porto Alegre in Southern Brazil.
The assembly represents 348 member churches.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368495
Deadly bird flu spreads to Germany, Austria and Iran
15.02.06 2.00pm
By Karin Strohecker
Three more countries said today they had detected cases of deadly bird flu in wild swans, with Germany, Iran and Austria the latest to find the virus that has killed 91 people worldwide.
Austria and Germany became the third and fourth European Union countries to report H5N1 bird flu, just three days after the bloc's first instances were confirmed by Italy and Greece.
Germany said its results came from initial tests. Both countries said samples of the dead birds had been sent to the EU's reference laboratory in Britain for confirmation. Experts had said it was only a matter of time before the H5N1 strain dangerous to humans broke out in Iran, a wintering place for wildfowl that may be carriers. Neighbouring Iraq, Azerbaijan and Turkey had already reported outbreaks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368510
Bacteria 'worst on shopping carts'
15.02.06 7.20am
SEOUL - Shopping cart handles are the most bacteria-infested items among some commonly used objects while doorknobs on public bathrooms are not as bad as might be expected, according to a survey conducted in South Korea.
The Korea Consumer Protection Board tested six items that are commonly handled by the public and ran tests for their bacteria content.
Shopping cart handles led the way with 1100 colony forming units of bacteria per 10sq cm followed by a mouse used on computers in Internet cafes, which had an average of 690 colony forming units.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368361
Air marshals arrested on drug charges
15.02.06 6.20am
Two United States air marshals face federal drug charges accusing them of using their positions to smuggle narcotics on to planes for transport.
Shawn Ray Nguyen, 38, and Burlie Sholar, 32, were arrested on February 9 after an informant delivered 14.85kg of cocaine and US$15,000 ($26,500) in "up front money" to Nguyen's Houston home, authorities said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368360
Dutch court jails militant for plotting attacks
15.02.06 1.00pm
By Wendel Broere
AMSTERDAM - A Dutch court sentenced a Muslim man to three years in jail under tough new anti-terrorism laws yesterday for planning "violent jihad" and trying to recruit volunteers while already in prison.
Bilal Lamrani, a Dutchman of Moroccan origin who had been jailed for threatening rightwing politician Geert Wilders, had offered fellow inmates money for information on how to get hold semtex explosive and hand grenades, the court said.
The new charge of recruiting for jihad and membership of a criminal organisation with terrorist intent is intended to enable militants to be convicted before the attacks they plan are carried out. It was introduced in 2004.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368504
Two more British soldiers arrested over Iraq video
15.02.06 1.00pm
By Kim Sengupta and Terri Judd
Two more British soldiers, including a non-commissioned officer, were arrested yesterday in connection with the video-taped abuse of Iraqi teenagers.
The men, from the 1st Battalion, the Light Infantry, were being held at their headquarters in Pederborn, in Germany.
The latest arrests follow that of corporal Martin Webster, who is alleged to have been involved in making the video.
The Royal Military Police have so far interviewed six soldiers over the assaults on the prisoners at Maysan province in southern Iraq in January 2005.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368506
New Abu Ghraib abuse photos emerge
16.02.06 8.25am
By Michael Perry
SYDNEY - An Australian television station last night broadcast what it said were previously unpublished images of abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, fuelling more Arab anger against the United States.
The Special Broadcasting Service's "Dateline" current affairs programme said the images were recorded at the same time as the now-infamous pictures of US soldiers abusing Abu Ghraib detainees which sparked international outrage in 2004.
Some of the newly broadcast pictures suggest further abuse such as killing, torture and sexual humiliation, Dateline said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368629
Canberra faces moral maze of Bali verdicts
16.02.06
By Greg Ansley
CANBERRA - The completion of the trial of the Bali Nine drug smugglers yesterday is the beginning of a new anguish in Australia.
Matthew Norman, 19, Si Yi Chen, 20, and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 27, will, like four others sentenced this week, die in an Indonesian prison unless they win appeals or gain pardons in two decades' time.
Ringleaders Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran Sukumaran, 24, will be shot by firing squad if their appeals fail and they cannot convince the Indonesian President to grant clemency.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368595
Two killed in Pakistan cartoons violence
15.02.06 3.10pm
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD - Security guards shot dead two men, police used teargas on students in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave and protesters attacked Western businesses in Pakistan's most violent reaction yet to cartoons of the Prophet.
In Iran, scores of demonstrators hurled petrol bombs at the British embassy in renewed protests against the cartoons and Western opposition to Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the dispute should not be allowed to divide Europe and the Muslim world, while a senior US state department official said it showed moderate Muslims needed a stronger voice.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368513
Rape trial of South Africa's Zuma postponed
15.02.06 8.20am
JOHANNESBURG - The rape trial of South Africa's former Deputy President Jacob Zuma has been postponed until March 6 at the request of the defence.
Judge Ezra Goldstein made the announcement to a packed courtroom as some 1,500 Zuma supporters gathered outside. Zuma's defence team asked for the delay to give it more time to examine documents, lawyers said.
Goldstein stepped in to announce the delay after Judge Bernard Ngoepe withdrew on Monday following a complaint by the defence that he may be biased.
It was not clear who would preside over the proceedings now. Ngoepe's deputy Jeremiah Buti Shongwe had been expected to take over, but Zuma's defence team also objects to him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368383
Ousted Nepali PM released from prison
14.02.06 2.20pm
KATHMANDU - Jailed former Nepali prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been freed from prison on Monday after the Supreme Court dissolved the controversial anti-graft panel which jailed him, a relative and party officials said.
"He has been released. He is at home and in good health," Bicky Deuba, the former prime minister's nephew, told Reuters.
The Royal Commission for Corruption Control, formed last year after King Gyanendra sacked Deuba and assumed absolute power, had jailed Deuba after accusing him of embezzling US$5.3 million ($7.9 million) in awarding a contract to supply drinking water to Kathmandu.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368232
Bali Nine executions in the wilderness
16.02.06
By Greg Ansley
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will die grim, lonely deaths if their appeals to live are refused.
Chan, 22, and Sukumaran, 24, were sentenced to death on Tuesday after being convicted as the leaders of the Bali Nine drug ring that last year tried to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin through Bali's Denpasar airport strapped to the bodies of four "mules".
The other seven members of the ring have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10368603
Youth, greed led drug smugglers to Bali death row
16.02.06
By Michael Perry
SYDNEY - Young Australians have been making the pilgrimage to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for decades, lured by the cheap cost of living, tropical sun and beaches and exotic Asian culture.
Cheap drugs, especially marijuana, have been another lure since the Bali hippie/surfer trail first opened in the 1970s. Early Australian surf movies featured naked hippies on Kuta Beach smoking marijuana as a reflection of Bali's free spirit.
Today, two Australians sit in a Bali jail sentenced to death by firing squad for trying to smuggle 8.2kg of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368600
Germany says H5N1 bird flu confirmed in dead swans
16.02.06
BERLIN - Germany said yesterday further tests had confirmed a preliminary finding that two dead swans found on a Baltic Sea beach were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
Reinhard Kurth, head of the Robert Koch Institute, said there was no longer any doubt that the two dead swans found recently on the Baltic island of Ruegen had been infected. The findings confirmed a preliminary test carried out yesterday.
"Unfortunately it has been confirmed that the swans were infected with H5N1 from Asia," Kurth told German television. "We have no doubts whatsoever anymore."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10368597
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