CTV.ca: Bird flu found in German cat, Swedish ducks


Sweden has confirmed bird flu has been found in two ducks in southern Sweden. It was the first known cases of a deadly strain in the country. However, authorities would not confirm it was the deadly H5N1 strain. Agriculture Ministry spokesman Anders Gronvall would only say "it is the form people have died from, the kind we have feared.'' "I would be surprised if it is not H5N1,'' Marianne Elvander of the National Veterinary Institute said, adding tests showed the virus was identical to strains found in Nigeria, Russia and China. The birds were found near a nuclear power plant in Oskarshamn, about 250 kilometres south of Stockholm.

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Axis News: Moscow demands release of Russian researcher – alleged spy

16.03.2006 - 09:50 (GMT)


The term of preliminary detention of Andrey Zamyatnin, a Russian researcher in biology who had been arrested in Sweden on February 15 on espionage charges ends today. The Stockholm district court will hold hearings in the case. The Prosecutor’s Office should bring in an indictment or good grounds for extending the detention term for the period of investigation. Under local laws persons suspected of espionage can be kept in detention pending trial for up to 15 months.

“The Swedish ambassador Johan Molander was told that Russia insists on Zamyatnin’s immediate release. The Russian Foreign Ministry made it clear that the Swedish authorities’ actions in this incident would affect Russian — Swedish relations in general”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a release on Thursday. Earlier, Moscow had already demanded explanation from Sweden for the detention of the 29-year-old Russian scientist.

The Swedish investigators claimed that the researcher had been engaged in “active undermining work” for about a year and “undermined the country’s safety by his criminal activities”.

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