Bid flu in Japan

Tokyo: Japanese authorities have begun to slaughter about 94,000 chickens at a poultry farm on the southern island of Kyushu after a bird flu outbreak was discovered.

Fukuoka Governor Hiroshi Ogawa asked for the dispatch of soldiers for the culling operation at the affected farm in the city of Munakata on Kyushu.

‘‘The highest priority now is the immediate and thorough containment of the outbreak,’’ he said at a local government meeting yesterday. — DPA