Bird flu hits north, south (Vietnam Net) VietNamNet Bridge – Avian flu cases (A/H5N1) have been reported in the provinces of Thai Nguyen and Ca Mau, where hundreds of chickens have died. [News Source]

Home sweet home (Bangkok Post – Thailand’s English news) Last month, a new kind of virus dubbed as "Habitatitis" officially spread to Thailand. Unlike some other outbreaks, Habitatitis is an incurable disease. Just as bird flu, H1N1 or Sars cause harm, Habitatitis is a moral virus that helps improve the lives of poor people. [News Source]

Overhaul of U.S. food safety system is overdue. FDA oversight hasn't had a major revision for more than 50 years. Farms are inspected about once a decade and about 1% of imported food is examined. Congress should act now to protect the public. [News Source]

Climate-change skeptics gain from Ottawa funding. The federal government has been funding an asbestos lobby group that promotes the work of prominent climate-change skeptics. [News Source]

Thai-ASEAN News Network (Thailand Outlook Channel) The commerce minister has said the French foreign trade minister showed her confidence in investment expansion in Thailand despite the sluggish economy and pledged to persuade the European Union to reinstate import of Thai frozen chicken which has been halted for five years due to avian flu. [News Source]

Relevant Links (AllAfrica.com) He however disclosed that N63 million compensation was paid to 3037 farms and farmers who were affected by bird flu, while 1.26 million birds were depopulated in 97 local governments across the country. [News Source]

Bird flu reappears in N Vietnam (People’s Daily) Bird flu reappeared in Vietnam's northern province of Thai Nguyen, killing 405 poultry, the Animal Health Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on its website on Tuesday. The disease broke out in two communes of Thai Nguyen province from Dec. 9 to 11, according to the department. To prevent the spread of bird flu, local authorities have taken prevention measures ... [News Source]

From disposable communion cups to Santas with hand sanitizers, fear of flu alters season (Memphis Commercial Appeal) From fist-bump greetings to the increasingly common sight of hand sanitizers, people are taking precautions to avoid their neighbors' germs.The H1N1 flu pandemic has changed social norms for Memphians and people across the nation, as traditions like hardy handshakes and children reciting their wish lists on Santa's lap come under suspicion.With swine flu arriving on the heels of avian flu ... [News Source]

WHO ‘Swine Flu Pope’ under investigation for gross conflict of interest (Online Journal) The man with the nickname “Dr Flu,” Professor Albert Osterhaus, of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Holland, has been named by Dutch media researchers as the person at the center of the worldwide Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza A 2009 pandemic hysteria. [News Source]