Flu threat prompts chicken slaughter

BEIJING - Hong Kong authorities said yesterday they planned to kill all chickens in the territory's retail markets because of fears of a dangerous bird flu outbreak. Health officials said they detected the deadly H5N1 virus last week in chickens at a stall in the Kowloon area and slaughtered about 2,700 animals in that neighborhood to prevent its spread. But more cases were uncovered this week at four markets in the New Territories and Hong Kong island. No humans are known to have been infected, the officials said. (Washington Post)

KABUL - Afghan counternarcotics officials said yesterday that they uncovered 260 tons of hashish hidden in 6-foot-deep trenches in what one US drug official said appears to be the world's biggest drug bust. The hashish, found in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday, was worth about $400 million, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. The hashish weighed as much as 30 double-decker buses, the group said. The drugs were burned. US General David McKiernan, the commander of group, said, "With this single find, they have seriously crippled the Taliban's ability to purchase weapons." (AP)

MADRID - Spain got tough yesterday with striking truckers and deployed riot police to lift blockades of a border crossing with France and a major highway outside Madrid and made dozens of arrests. Unions representing the strikers vowed to press on, rejecting a package of measures to end the three-day nationwide protests over rising fuel prices. The strike is blamed for disruptions in food supplies. (AP)