French bird flu scare evaporates. Veterinary experts in France say 4,000 chickens on a north-eastern farm did not die of bird flu. [News Source]

Flu crisis prevention edges forward. The White House on Monday said it has met most of its early goals in preparing to deal with a flu pandemic but added that there still are significant steps that must be taken. [News Source]

Import of live breeding cattle to start. Turkey is to ease restrictions on imports of meat as well as live breeding cattle, said Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker yesterday. [News Source]

Bird flu ruled out after French poultry deaths (AFP via Yahoo! News) The French agriculture ministry has said that bird flu is not responsible for the deaths of several thousand chickens on a farm in the east of the country. [News Source]

Vietnam reports new bird flu outbreaks in poultry (Khaleej Times) HANOI - Vietnam on Tuesday confirmed two new outbreaks of bird flu in domestic poultry, the first in more than a year in the country once hardest-hit by the deadly H5N1 strain. [News Source]

Bird flu ruled out after French poultry deaths (AFP via Yahoo! News) The French agriculture ministry has said that bird flu is not responsible for the deaths of several thousand chickens on a farm in the east of the country. [News Source]

French bird flu scare evaporates (BBC News) French experts say 4,000 chickens found dead at a farm in north-eastern France did not die of bird flu. [News Source]

French bird flu scare evaporates (BBC News) French experts say 4,000 chickens found dead at a farm in north-eastern France did not die of bird flu. [News Source]

No bird flu at St.Petersburg zoo – Onishchenko (Interfax) MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) - Tests have not confirmed a bird flu outbreak at the zoo in St.Petersburg, Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief sanitary official and head of consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, told Interfax on Monday. [News Source]

Russian Zoo Closes After Geese Die of Suspected Bird Flu (Mosnews) One of Russia’s main zoos has closed down after the deaths of two geese sparked a bird flu scare, but a local health expert ruled this out as the cause of their deaths. [News Source]

Kazakh scientists create bird flu vaccine (New Kerala) Astana, Dec 19: Kazakh scientists have created the first national bird flu vaccine to be used on birds. "Immune and biological characteristics of the vaccine developed in Kazakhstan is on par with those of foreign analogues," claimed Byrganym Aitimova, Kazakhstan's Minister of Education and Science. [News Source]