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Markets in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong suffered the worst of the fallout, as investors had their first chance to react to Lehman Brothers’ filing for bankruptcy protection, the Merrill Lynch sale and insurance firm American International Group Inc.’s efforts to raise cash. Japanese, Chinese and South Korean markets were closed Monday for a holiday. Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa reportedly said Tuesday the central bank will strive to ensure smooth market functioning and work to provide ample liquidity to the market. The central bank reportedly injected 1.5 trillion yen ($14.4 billion) into money markets in its morning operations. More

KWANG-TAE KIM/Ap
Thousands of protesters marched through Seoul against a U.S. beef import pact that has renewed fears of mad cow disease. Police said Tuesday that 30 demonstrators were arrested after scuffling erupted. A crowd estimated by police at 3,000 held a candlelight vigil Monday night before embarking on the march.

“Nullify the agreement,” the protesters chanted as they were stopped by some of the 7,000 riot police blocking off streets downtown. South Korea suspended U.S. beef imports after the first American case of mad cow disease appeared in December 2003 in a Canadian-born cow in Washington state. A total of three cases of the disease have been discovered in the United States. After protracted negotiations, restricted imports of U.S. beef reached South Korean supermarkets last year, but further shipments were canceled in October after banned parts, such as bones, were found. More

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean officials said today they have killed all poultry in Seoul, the capital, to curb the spread of bird flu following a new outbreak of the disease in the city. Quarantine officials destroyed 15,000 chickens, ducks, pheasants and turkeys raised in farms, restaurants, schools and homes in the capital, said Kim Yoon-kyu, a Seoul Metropolitan Government official. The Seoul government said the slaughter was necessary to contain the disease. It said it will now focus on preventing live poultry from being brought into the capital.
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Monday, May 12, 2008
AFP
SEOUL — Another bird flu case was found in the South Korean capital Sunday, the agriculture ministry said, while it was reported an outbreak in the country’s second largest city was caused by the H5N1 strain. More than 8,000 ducks and chickens were immediately culled at an illegally-run farm in Seoul’s southeastern district of Songpa after tests showed the potentially deadly virus, the ministry said. It was later reported by Yonhap news agency that the H5N1 strain had been found in the southeastern port city of Busan.
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