KOLKATA, Feb. 11: Experts from Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) today visited bird flu-affected areas of the state ahead of the review meeting to be held by the state government to discuss lifting the ban on chicken trading and transportation.

Theatre artistes are adding to the State's efforts to create mass awareness for the prevention of bird flu in Manipur. Artistes of the Courtyard Theatre staged Aruba Echel (Clear Stream) at Iboyaima Shuman Leela Shanglen Place compound here to send a message across that poultry farming on scientific lines is safe. The play depicts that thousands of unemployed youths could take up poultry farming, cattle farming and piggery and makes a decent living.

The culling operation in Kokrajhar district has been completed today, the Asom Animal Husbandry and Veterinary sources said. It will take, however, one or two days more to complete the task in Dhubri district due to adverse weather condition yesterday, sources added.

Though the ban on the import of Chinese shuttlecocks due to the bird flu scare might have resulted in the cancellation of the National Badminton Championship, scheduled to be held in Goa, it has proved a blessing for the indigenous shuttlecock units, which were on the verge of closure due to competition from Chinese shuttlecocks. The shuttlecock units of the city, which had migrated from Sialkot after independence, had provided employment to a lot of families since then and the highly skilled labour involved in shuttlecock manufacturing in the city earned fame.

The large poultry industry in Punjab appears vulnerable to the bird flu outbreak in a similar way as it began in West Bengal. Talking to reporters here last week, officials of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said they had investigated the poultry farms in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Chandigarh in the past few months and found gross negligence on the part of poultry farmers towards the birds.

Reports of death of more than 200 chicken at Balijan village under Panitola PS in Tinsukia district has created a fear psychosis here. The officials of the District Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department have almost ruled out the spread of bird flu in the district and stated that there is no need for the poultry owners to panic.

UK to cull badgers to check TB The UK government is planning to cull badgers, the carriers of bovine tuberculosis (TB). Bovine TB is on the rise in the UK, causing 20,000 cattle to be slaughtered

First human bird flu case in Pakistan: WHO has confirmed that the limited human-to-human bird flu transmission has occurred in Pakistan. The country reported eight cases of human bird flu in

more than 40 gharials were found dead downstream in the Chambal river, ahead of its confluence point with the Yamuna. Preliminary reports indicated liver cirrhosis was among the causes of the