Nigeria rejects suggestions to halt spread of bird flu
Lagos, Nigeria – Nigeria ignored international recommendations for stopping bird flu, keeping poultry markets open Sunday and letting people move their birds around most of the country unrestricted.
Officials were awaiting word on whether the virus already had infected people in Africa’s most populous nation. Test results were pending on two sick children near a farm where the H5N1 strain was first detected among poultry. Their families also were being tested.
Tope Ajakaiye, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Agriculture Ministry, said there were no plans to close poultry markets or restrict the trade or movement of poultry as recommended by international organizations.
“We don’t want to cause a situation where there will be much panic or alarm,” Ajakaiye said.
Indonesia said Sunday the World Health Organization had confirmed that two women there had died from the H5N1 bird flu strain. The two deaths are expected to bring Indonesia’s official human death toll from the virus to 18.
A European Union laboratory was testing samples to determine whether the strain that killed a swan in Slovenia near the Austrian border was H5N1.
On Sunday, Slovenian authorities imposed strict controls in the area. Poultry there will be isolated, tested for the virus and killed if infected.
Italy and Greece put similar measures in place Saturday after the H5N1 strain was found there.
ROSEVILLE, Calif.
Plane crashes into house, killing two
A single-engine plane that appeared to have been performing an aerobatic stunt lost control and crashed into a suburban home Sunday, killing at least two people and sparking a fire that gutted the house, police said.
The crash left a gaping, smoldering hole in the two-story house it directly hit and set fire to an adjacent house, damaging the garage and attic, said Roseville Fire Marshal Dennis Mathisen. One body was visible in the wreckage.
Placer County Deputy Coroner T. Sinclair confirmed that two people were on the plane and said a teenage boy who lived in the house was unaccounted for. Neighbors said the boy’s family was out of town for the weekend, and it was unclear if he was home.
Sinclair said no one could have survived the crash, but he was unable to confirm any deaths Sunday because the Federal Aviation Administration wasn’t allowing officials into the wreckage to retrieve bodies until today. The plane – which the FAA identified as a 1996 Glasair II – crashed just before 11:30 a.m., Roseville police spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther said.
BRISBANE, Australia
Shark feeding frenzy closes beaches again
Several tourist beaches along Australia’s popular Gold Coast were closed again Sunday because of a massive feeding frenzy involving more than 100 sharks, a lifeguard official said.
Several beaches in Queens land state were closed for a second straight day after more than 100 hammerhead, gray nurse and whaler sharks were spotted feeding close to shore, said Sue Neil, spokeswoman for Surf Lifesaving Queensland.
“When they feed on the bait fish, they do close their eyes and there is a danger of collision,” she said. “If they are chomping, they could very easily chomp on humans.”
COPENHAGEN, Denmark
Premier condemns grave desecration
About 25 Muslim graves in western Denmark were vandalized late Saturday night, bringing swift condemnation from Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as tensions simmer from a Danish newspaper’s publication last year of cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
“I strongly condemn this disgraceful act, and I deeply regret the desecration of Muslim graves,” Rasmussen said in a statement. “I have made it clear that the Danish government condemns any expression or any action which offends people’s religious feelings.”
JERUSALEM
Sharon critical but stable after surgery
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been comatose since suffering a massive stroke more than five weeks ago, was in critical but stable condition Sunday after emergency abdominal surgery, the hospital treating him said.
Though the surgery was successful, Sharon’s doctors said hope was fading for the premier to wake from his coma.
Since the stroke, Sharon has been hooked up to a breathing tube. A feeding tube was inserted in his stomach Feb. 1.
Sharon, 77, was rushed into surgery Saturday morning after an abdominal scan revealed dead tissue in his digestive system.
Doctors removed 20 inches, or one-third, of his large intestine during the four-hour surgery, the seventh Sharon has undergone since suffering the debilitating stroke Jan. 4.
BAGHDAD, Iraq
Lawyers say Hussein will skip trial again
The dock at Saddam Hussein’s trial will stand empty today, according to lawyers for the former Iraqi president, who said he and his seven co-defendants will continue their boycott when proceedings resume.
The hearing will mark the latest troubled chapter in the trial of Hussein and his co-defendants for the killing of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims after the former ruler survived a 1982 assassination attempt in the town of Dujayl north of Baghdad.
BEIJING
China mandating free AIDS medication
China issued its first official regulations on how to prevent and control the spread of the AIDS virus Sunday, mandating free testing and medication for the country’s poor.
The statute issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet, protects HIV carriers and AIDS patients from discrimination and criminalizes intentionally spreading the disease, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
