48,000 displaced by floods in Hunan

CHANGSA • Days of torrential rain forced 48,000 residents to evacuate in central China's Hunan Province, authorities said yesterday.

Heavy rain had battered the northern part of the province since Friday, disrupting the lives of 200,000 people in 62 townships in counties including Pingjiang, Yueyang and Fenghuang, said a statement issued by the provincial flood control and disaster relief headquarters.

So far, 413 houses have been destroyed and 10,600ha of crops damaged in the province.

XINHUA

Manila warns against killing migratory birds

MANILA • The Philippines yesterday warned citizens not to kill or poach migratory birds that usually fly in from China, the possible source of a virus that triggered the South-east Asian nation's first outbreak of avian flu, to avoid worsening the situation.

There has been no case of human transmission but the virus prompted a cull of 200,000 fowl last week after it was detected on a farm in the province of Pampanga, north of Manila, and spread to five neighbouring farms.

Migratory birds or smuggled ducks from China may have brought in the virus, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol has said.

REUTERS

Buddhists protest against aid groups

YANGON • Hundreds of Buddhists took to the streets in western Myanmar yesterday to protest against aid organisations they accuse of giving support to Muslim Rohingya militants, police and a protest leader said.

Buddhist monks and members of the Rakhine ethnic group held demonstrations in 15 towns, including the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe, demanding that aid agencies leave the western state immediately, Mr Htay Aung, a self-described leader of the protests, told Reuters by phone.

REUTERS