Japan pledges $67 million more to fight avian influenza (ABS-CBNNEWS.com) CEBU (Reuters) - Japan pledged on Sunday an additional $67 million contribution to the battle against avian influenza and other pandemic diseases that have hit some countries in the Southeast Asian region. [News Source]

Hong Kong bans Japanese poultry after bird flu outbreak (AFP via Yahoo! News) The Hong Kong government has announced it has banned all poultry imports from Japan with immediate effect after the country reported a bird flu outbreak. [News Source]

New Bird Flu Cluster May Signal Change in H5N1 Virus (Update2) (Bloomberg.com) Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- A new cluster of bird flu infections involving at least two members of a family in Indonesia may indicate a change in the virus's ability to sicken people, researchers studying the disease said. [News Source]