Cordons and culls to stem bird flu epidemic

RUSSIA cordoned off roads and slaughtered hundreds of birds yesterday in a bid to contain the advance of a bird flu epidemic toward Europe.

The outbreak, previously confined to five remote areas of Siberia, has struck a major industrial region - Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountains, which separate Asia from Europe.

"All ill and infected birds are being slaughtered there," the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.