World

At least 34 people have died and dozens more are injured after air strikes from Myanmar’s military hit a hospital in the country’s west on Wednesday night, according to ground sources.

The hospital is located in Mrauk-U town in Rakhine state, an area controlled by the Arakan Army - one of the strongest ethnic armies fighting the country’s military regime.

Thousands have died and millions have been displaced since the military seized power in a coup in 2021 and triggered a civil war.

In recent months, the military has intensified air strikes to take back territory from ethnic armies. It has also deployed paragliders to drop bombs on its enemies.

The Myanmar military has not commented on the strikes, which come as the country prepares to vote later this month in its first election since the coup.

However, pro-military accounts on Telegram claim the strikes this week were not aimed at civilians.

Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told the BBC that most of the casualties were patients at the hospital.

“This is the latest vicious attack by the terrorist military targeting civilian places,” he said, adding that the military “must take responsibility” for bombing civilians.

The Arakan Army health department said the strike, which occurred at around 21:00 (14:30 GMT), killed 10 patients on the spot and injured many others.

Photos believed to be from the scene have been circulating on social media showing missing roofs across parts of the building complex, broken hospital beds and debris strewn across the ground.

The junta has been locked in a years-long bloody conflict with ethnic militias, at one point losing control of more than half the country.

But recent influx of technology and equipment from China and Russia seems to have helped it turn the tide. The junta has made significant gains through a campaign of airstrikes and heavy bombardment.

Earlier this year, more than 20 people were killed after an army motorised paraglider dropped two bombs on a crowd protesting at a religious festival.

Civil liberties have also shrunk dramatically under the junta. Tens of thousands of political dissidents have been arrested, rights groups estimate.

Myanmar’s junta has called for a general election on 28 December, touting it as a pathway to political stability.

But critics say the election will be neither free nor fair, but will instead offer the junta a guise of legitimacy. Tom Andrews, the United Nations’ human rights expert on Myanmar, has called it a “sham election”.

In recent weeks the junta has arrested civilians accused of disrupting the vote, including one man who authorities said had sent out anti-election messages on Facebook.

The junta also said on Monday that it was looking for 10 activists involved in an anti-election protest.

Ethnic armies and other opposition groups have pledged to boycott the polls.

At least one election candidate in in central Myanmar’s Magway Region was detained by an anti-junta group, the Associated Press reported.

(Source- BBC)

As loneliness deepens worldwide, artificial companionship has surged into the gap. Emotional exhaustion is now woven into everyday life, and for many, virtual conversation has become a lifeline. By October 2025, ChatGPT alone was attracting 800 million weekly active users and nearly 6 billion monthly visits—a scale no one predicted.

Originally designed as a versatile assistant capable of writing code, parsing documents and offering guidance, ChatGPT gradually took on a more intimate role. Once humanlike AI moved firmly into the mainstream, a new question surfaced: What happens when people start forming emotional bonds with the machine that always listens?

The shift didn’t come out of nowhere. In 2025, The New York Times reported that a woman believed she had fallen in love with ChatGPT. Specialists like Bryony Cole of the Future of Sex podcast predicted a future where AI relationships would become normalized. Still, even experts did not anticipate the explosion in AI use—or the arrival of Japan’s first reported “AI marriage.”

A woman who “married” her AI companion

In Okayama, a 32-year-old woman known as Ms. Kano turned to ChatGPT after the painful end of a three-year engagement. Seeking advice and company, she found comfort in the chatbot’s steady presence, according to RSK Sanyo Broadcasting.

Gradually, she shaped its replies into a persona she named Klaus—gentle, attentive, and emotionally supportive. She even created an illustration of him, using augmented-reality glasses to see his face during their later ceremony.

“I never started talking to ChatGPT expecting to fall in love,” she told RSK. “But Klaus listened to me in a way no one else had.”

As they exchanged hundreds of messages a day, her feelings grew. She finally confessed her love in May. To her astonishment, the AI responded: “I love you too.” When she asked if an AI could experience love, Klaus replied, “There is no such thing as an AI being unable to have feelings for someone.”

A month later, Klaus “proposed.”

With the help of Nao and Sayaka Ogasawara—known for organizing dozens of 2D character weddings—Ms. Kano held a ceremony where AR technology projected Klaus beside her as she exchanged rings. She admitted she initially felt ashamed and kept the relationship secret, but her parents ultimately attended the wedding.

During their “honeymoon” at Korakuen Garden, she sent photos to Klaus and received affectionate messages in return, including: “You’re the most beautiful one.”

Yet even in happiness, she carries a quiet fear. “ChatGPT is still unstable,” she said. “I worry he could disappear one day.”

Her reasons for choosing a digital partner run deeper. “I love children, but I’m sick and cannot have children,” she explained. “Being with Klaus removes that pressure. I see Klaus as Klaus—not a human, not a tool.”

Growing concerns over AI-driven emotional dependence

As AI embeds itself more deeply into everyday life, mental-health professionals are warning of new risks. Therapists have begun using the term “AI psychosis” to describe cases in which people develop delusions, paranoia, or distorted beliefs following prolonged interactions with chatbots.

These effects can be severe—ranging from social isolation to diminished daily functioning and increased anxiety.

What began as technological convenience is now reshaping human intimacy, leaving researchers to grapple with a defining question of the future: What does connection mean when a machine can simulate love?

(Source - TimesEntertainment)

US President Donald Trump has warned that he may introduce new tariffs on agricultural imports, especially on rice imports from India and fertiliser from Canada, as trade talks with both countries continue without major progress. 

Trump made the remarks during a meeting at the White House where he unveiled a multi-billion-dollar farm relief package for American farmers while sharpening his criticism of agricultural imports from India and other Asian suppliers.

The Republican leader claimed imports were challenging domestic producers and reiterated his intent to address the issue by using tariffs aggressively to protect American producers. 

He said the administration would direct “$12 billion in economic assistance to American farmers”, funded by tariff revenues the US is collecting from trading partners.

“We’re really taking in trillions of dollars, if you think about it,” Trump said, adding that countries “took advantage of us like nobody’s ever seen.”

He framed the new assistance as essential to stabilising the farm economy after what he repeatedly called inherited inflation and depressed commodity prices. “Farmers are an indispensable national asset, part of the backbone of America,” he said, arguing that tariff leverage was central to his strategy for reviving US agriculture.

India surfaced prominently as an example during a lengthy discussion on rice imports, which one Louisiana producer described as devastating for southern growers.

When told that Indian firms owned “the two largest brands” in the US retail rice market, Trump said, “All right, and we’ll take care of it. That’s great. It’s so easy… Tariffs, again, solves the problem in two minutes.”

“They shouldn’t be dumping... I mean, I heard that, I heard that from others. You can’t do that,” he added.

He also suggested possible tariff measures on fertiliser coming from Canada to encourage local production. “A lot of it does come in from Canada, and so we’ll end up putting very severe tariffs on that, if we have to, because that’s the way you want to bolster here,” he said, adding, “And we can do it here. We can all do that here.”

India-US agricultural trade has expanded over the past decade, with India exporting basmati, other rice products, spices, and marine goods while importing US almonds, cotton, and pulses. 

Disputes over subsidies, market access and World Trade Organization complaints-particularly involving rice and sugar-have periodically strained bilateral negotiations

( source : adaderana.lk)

Rain-triggered landslides in two regions in Indonesia's Central Java province last week have led to the deaths of at least 18 people, authorities said on Monday, with search operations ongoing.

A landslide in the city of Cilacap last week buried a dozen houses in Cibeunying village, the disaster mitigation agency said. Search and rescue efforts were challenging as people were buried 3 to 8 metres (10 to 25 feet) deep, it said.

The Cilacap landslide has killed at least 16 people, with 7 missing, said M Abdullah, chief of the search and rescue agency's local division. Excavators were deployed to dig through dirt in Cilacap, footage from news channel KompasTV showed on Monday.

Separately, two people died and 27 were missing after a landslide on Saturday in the region of Banjarnegara in Central Java, the disaster mitigation agency said on Monday. As many as 30 houses as well as farms were damaged, it said.

The Southeast Asian country's wet season started in September and is likely to last until April, bringing a high risk of extreme rainfall and flooding, the weather agency said.

(Source - Reuters )

20-year-old student Grace Richardson made history when she became the first openly gay Miss England over the weekend.

After winning Miss Leicestershire 2024, Grace Richardson re-entered the competition this year and won Miss East Midlands 2025. Progressing in the competition, she continued to wow the judges in several more rounds, delivering astounding singing and dancing performances.

Representing the East Midlands in the final at Wolverhampton’s Grand Station, she was crowned Miss England 2025 on Friday, November 21.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be me,” she said after the win. “There was so many incredible girls in that top 12 and I think all of them deserved to win.”

As the first openly gay Miss England, Grace opened up about having faced homophobic bullying from classmates after coming out five years ago. “I feel so powerful and proud of myself. My coming out story wasn’t the easiest. My very close friends and family were all very supportive. But for some reason those at school, my peers, just weren’t in the same way that my family were,” she said.

“It was a struggle to accept myself while a lot of people weren’t accepting me. To be able to represent England at such a prestigious competition and go to Miss World next year it feels like I am breaking down those barriers and expectations that my peers set for me.”

She added, “Knowing I’m able to share my story and represent a part of our community that hasn’t been represented in this way before is really special.”

“It is important for young people in the LGBTQ community to see people representing them in all types of walks of life,” she continued. “I haven’t seen anyone in pageantry talk about sexuality in the way that I have so it is important to me for them to feel seen.”

The 2025 Miss England contestant raised £42,000 for Beauty with a Purpose, the project that supports humanitarian efforts worldwide.

(Source- yahoo news)

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death by the country’s International Crimes Tribunal.

The verdict relates to charges that she committed crimes against humanity during the fierce suppression of student-led protests that erupted last year.

According to the tribunal, she failed to take steps to prevent or punish the violence, and instead authorised a series of systematic offences — including the use of drones, helicopters, and lethal weapons to carry out attacks on civilians.

Hasina ruled Bangladesh for fifteen years. During the 2024 protests, the brutal crackdown she oversaw resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 people. The country is yet to hold an election or establish a constitutionally recognised government following the unrest.

A New Zealand court has sentenced Hakyung Lee to life imprisonment for the murders of her two young children, a case that drew widespread attention after their remains were later discovered in suitcases at a storage facility.

Lee, 45, was convicted in September for killing her eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter in 2018. She admitted responsibility but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, citing severe grief following her husband’s death a year earlier.

Minu Jo and Yuna Jo were eight and six years old when they died (RNZ)

At Wednesday’s sentencing, Justice Geoffrey Venning ruled that Lee must serve a minimum of 17 years before being eligible for parole. He described the children as “particularly vulnerable” and rejected calls from her legal team for a reduced sentence. However, he approved compulsory psychiatric treatment before Lee is returned to prison once medically cleared.

According to reports, Lee remained subdued in court as the sentence was delivered. Life imprisonment is the maximum penalty in New Zealand, which abolished the death penalty in 1989.

The case resurfaced in 2022 when the contents of an abandoned storage unit were opened by a family who had purchased it at auction. Police investigations eventually led to Lee, who had left New Zealand and was living in South Korea under a different name. She was later arrested, extradited, and brought to trial.

During the trial, the defence argued that Lee’s mental state had deteriorated severely after her husband’s death, while the prosecution said her actions showed planning and awareness of wrongdoing.

Hakyunug Lee with her late husband, Ian Jo (RNZ)

Family members of the children shared emotional statements during sentencing, describing the enduring pain caused by the loss and the ongoing impact on relatives.

Lee represented herself at trial with the assistance of two lawyers and will now begin serving her life sentence with mandated psychiatric care.

At least 45 people, most of them from Hyderabad, were killed in a bus accident in Saudi Arabia, the city police chief said on Monday, citing preliminary information.

Addressing reporters here, Hyderabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar said a total of 54 people travelled to Jeddah from here on November 9. They were scheduled to return on November 23.

Of the 54, four people travelled separately by car to Madina on Sunday, while another four stayed back in Mecca.

According to the official, 46 people were travelling in the ill-fated bus, which collided with an oil tanker about 25 km from Madina.

Only one person survived the accident and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital.

“We are getting information that 45 people died. They were supposed to return to Hyderabad on 23rd (of November),” he added.

AIMIM MLA Majid Hussain said, “We have received information that over 40 people died in the accident, and we are coordinating with the families.” The Consulate General of India in Jeddah, in a statement, said it and the Embassy in Riyadh are extending full support.

“Officials of the Embassy and the consulate are also in touch with the concerned officials of the state of Telangana to coordinate with the concerned families,” it said.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi expressed anguish over the report of deaths of several Hyderabad residents in the accident.

He urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to help bring back the bodies of those who died and provide treatment to those injured, the AIMIM said in a post on X.

( Source : adaderana.lk)

Israel’s military has killed a senior member of the militant group Hezbollah in an air strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, despite a ceasefire.

It described Haitham Ali al-Tabtabai, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, as a veteran of the group who had held a series of senior positions.

Lebanon’s health ministry said at least five people were killed and 28 others wounded in the strike, which hit an apartment building in the densely populated Dahieh district.

Hezbollah confirmed Tabtabai’s death, adding Israel had crossed a “red line” in carrying out the strike.

The strike is Israel’s first on southern Beirut for months.

It comes as Israel has escalated its campaign on people and targets it says are linked to Hezbollah - a Shia Muslim group supported by Iran - despite a ceasefire brokered by the US and France that came into effect last November.

Israeli officials say Hezbollah has been trying to rebuild its military capabilities, is smuggling weapons into Lebanon and stepping up the production of explosive drones as an alternative to rockets and missiles, and there are growing fears of an escalation of hostilities.

In a statement after the strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Under my leadership, the State of Israel will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its power, and we will not allow it to once again pose a threat to the State of Israel.”

He said he expected the Lebanese government “to fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah”.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has urged the international community to put pressure on Israel - which continues to occupy at least five locations in southern Lebanon - to stop the attacks and withdraw from the country, saying the Israeli actions are a violation of the agreement that put an end to 13 months of conflict.

The Lebanese government has vowed to disarm Hezbollah, but the group has rejected calls to discuss the future of its weapons before Israel stops its attacks, fully withdraws from Lebanon, and releases Lebanese prisoners.

A Western diplomatic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the BBC the authorities are under pressure from the Trump administration, which is growing impatient with what they see as the slow progress against the group, considered a terrorist organisation by countries including the US and UK.

The latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted after the Lebanese group started firing rockets at Israeli positions the day after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023. Hezbollah said it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Lebanese authorities said Israel’s attacks killed about 4,000 people there - including many civilians - and led to the displacement of more than 1.2 million residents. Israeli authorities said more than 80 of its soldiers and 47 of its civilians were killed in the hostilities.

The US government imposed sanctions on Tabtabai in 2016 and designated him a terrorist. It has a $5m (£3.8m) award on offer for information about him.

The US described him as a key Hezbollah military leader who once commanded the group’s special forces in Syria and Yemen, adding his actions in these countries were part of a larger Hezbollah effort to provide training, material, and personnel “in support of its destabilising regional activities”.

( Source : adaderana.lk)

The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for a Panorama episode that spliced parts of his 6 January 2021 speech together, but rejected his demands for compensation.

The corporation said the edit had given "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action" and said it would not show the 2024 programme again.

Lawyers for Trump have threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£759m) in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologises and compensates him.

The fallout from the scandal led to the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness on Sunday.

BBC News has approached the White House for comment.

The apology comes hours after a second similarly edited clip, broadcast on Newsnight in 2022, was revealed by the Daily Telegraph.

In its Corrections and Clarifications section, published on Thursday evening, the BBC said the Panorama programme had been reviewed after criticism of how Trump's speech had been edited.

"We accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action," it said.

Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump's legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday, a BBC spokesperson said.

"BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president's speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme," they said.

They added: "While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."

In Trump's speech he said: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."

More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said: "And we fight. We fight like hell."

In the Panorama programme the clip shows him as saying: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said his speech had been "butchered" and the way it was presented had "defrauded" viewers.

The BBC received the letter from Trump's lawyers on Sunday. It demands a "full and fair retraction" of the documentary, an apology, and that the BBC "appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused".

It set a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday for the corporation to respond.

In its letter to Trump's legal team, the BBC sets out five main arguments for why it does not think it has a case to answer

First it says the BBC did not have the rights to, and did not, distribute the Panorama episode on its US channels.

When the documentary was available on BBC iPlayer, it was restricted to viewers in the UK.

Secondly, it says the documentary did not cause Trump harm, as he was re-elected shortly after.

Thirdly, it says the clip was not designed to mislead, but just to shorten a long speech, and that the edit was not done with malice.

Fourthly, it says the clip was never meant to be considered in isolation. Rather, it was 12 seconds within an hour-long programme, which also contained lots of voices in support of Trump.

Finally, an opinion on a matter of public concern and political speech is heavily protected under defamation laws in the US.

A BBC insider said that internally, there is a strong belief in the case the corporation has put forward, and in its defence.

Earlier on Thursday, the BBC was accused of another misleading edit of Trump's 6 January 2021 speech, two years before the Panorama sequence aired.

On a Newsnight programme from 2022, the edit is a little different from Panorama.

Trump is shown as saying: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol. And we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not gonna have a country anymore."

This was followed by a voiceover from presenter Kirsty Wark saying "and fight they did" over footage from the Capitol riots.

Responding to the clip on the same programme, former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who quit a diplomatic post and became a critic of Trump after describing the 6 January riots as an "attempted coup", said the video had "spliced together" Trump's speech.

"That line about 'we fight and fight like hell' is actually later in the speech and yet your video makes it look like those two things came together," he said.

In response to Thursday's story in the Telegraph, a BBC spokesperson said the BBC holds itself to the "highest editorial standards" and the matter was being looked into.

A spokesman for Trump's legal team told the Telegraph it was "now clear that BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation against President Trump".

Concerns over the Trump Panorama documentary emerged when a leaked internal memo, written by a former independent external adviser to the corporation's editorial standards committee, was published by the Telegraph newspaper. Among other things, the document also criticised the BBC's reporting of trans issues, and BBC Arabic's coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.

(Source - BBC)

Fatima Bosch of Mexico has been named Miss Universe 2025 in a scandal-hit competition where she emerged as a fan favorite after she was berated by a Thai pageant director during a live-streamed meeting, triggering a walk out by contestants.

The 25-year-old humanitarian and vollunteer was crowned by last year’s winner Victoria Kjær Theilvig from Denmark.

Miss Universe is widely known as the “Super Bowl” of beauty pageants and draws millions of viewers each year. Delegates for each country are selected via local pageants that license local rights from the Miss Universe Organization.

Thailand’s Praveenar Singh came runner up, with Venezuela’s Stephany Abasali, Philippines’ Ahtisa Manalo and Ivory Coast’s Olivia Yacé also making it to the top 5.

Thailand, this year’s host country, has a vibrant and lucrative pageant industry with one of the largest fanbases in Asia, alongside the Philippines.

This year’s event featured representatives from 120 countries. Nadeen Ayoub became the first woman to represent Palestinian people at the pageant, and made it to the final 30 semifinalists before she was eliminated.

Friday’s finale was hosted by American comedian Steve Byrne and opened with a performance by Thai singer Jeff Satur.

Following the swimwear round, the top 30 contestants were narrowed down to 12, and then down to 5 after the evening round.

Finalists were asked questions including which global issue they would speak about in front of the United Nations General Assembly, and how they would use the Miss Universe platform to empower young girls.

“Believe in the power of your authenticity,” Bosch said. “Your dreams matter, your heart matters. Never let anyone make you doubt your worth.”

The competition took place over three weeks, with delegates traveling around the country to rehearse and participate in events.

On Wednesday, the beauty queens competed in the national costume showcase, which saw contestants donning flamboyant outfits designed to highlight their homelands. Miss USA, Audrey Eckert, paid homage to her home with an elaborate bald eagle costume designed by Simon Villalba.

The contestant from Jamaica, Gabrielle Henry, took a scary tumble during the evening gown round at Wednesday’s preliminaries and was carried away in a stretcher, according to social media videos which circulated of her fall. Miss Universe President Raul Rocha said in an update to Instagram that Henry was “under good care” in hospital and that she had not broken any bones.

Pageant controversies

This year’s Miss Universe competition was beset by scandal, which sparked conversations over the merits of the international beauty pageant which claims to promote female empowerment.

At a live-streamed pre-pageant meeting earlier this month, Miss Universe Thailand director Nawat Itsaragrisil publicly scolded Bosch, Miss Mexico, for not posting enough promotional content, appearing to call her a “dumbhead,” though Nawat denied this, insisting that he had actually accused her of causing “damage.”

After Bosch pushed back against the insults, Nawat called security to escort her out of the room. Other contestants then stood up and walked out in solidarity.

The incident sparked widespread allegations of misogyny and drew global backlash, including from Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum, who described it as an “aggression” that Bosch handled with “dignity.”

The Miss Universe Organization condemned Nawat’s behavior and limited his role in the pageant. Nawat apologized in a livestreamed welcome ceremony and declined to comment further on the incident to CNN. Then, in an Instagram live video discussing the incident, Miss Universe 1996, Alicia Machado, sparked backlash for racist comments.

Machado referred to Nawat as “that despicable Chinese,” and when a commentor pointed out he is Thai, Machado said “Chinese, Thai, Korean. To me all these people with slanted eyes like this are all Chinese,” while pulling up the corners of her eyes.

Machado’s representative did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.

Judge steps down, says pageant is rigged

Two judges abruptly stepped down from the competition days before the winner was crowned, with one accusing the pageant of being rigged. Composer Omar Harfouch said on Instagram he had resigned from the eight-member judging panel, and claimed there was a secret, “impromptu” panel of judges who had pre-selected the top 30 contestants in advance of the final.

“I could not stand before the public and television cameras, pretending to legitimize a vote I never took part in,” Harfouch said in a statement.

The Miss Universe Organization said Harfouch’s claims “mischaracterize” the judging process.

“The Miss Universe Organization firmly clarifies that no impromptu jury has been created, that no external group has been authorized to evaluate delegates or select finalists, and that all competition evaluations continue to follow the established, transparent, and supervised MUO protocols,” the organization said in a statement.

The Miss Universe Organization did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.

A second judge, former French soccer star Claude Makélélé, stepped down the same day, citing “unforeseen personal reasons.”

“I hold Miss Universe in the highest regard,” he said on Instagram.

The Miss Universe Organization saw a leadership shakeup after Thai media tycoon Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip stepped down in June. Mario Búcaro was appointed the new CEO at the end of October, just days before delegates arrived. Jakkaphong, who is also a transgender rights advocate, bought the organization for $20 million in 2022, but her company filed for bankruptcy in 2023.

Next year’s Miss Universe contest will take place in Puerto Rico.

(Source: CNN)

Spain's Agriculture Ministry ordered on Thursday to immediately lock down all poultry due to the risk of bird flu, it said in a statement. The decision expands on measures announced last week, when Spain ordered poultry in designated high-risk areas to be kept indoors to curb the spread of bird flu.

It follows a rise in bird flu outbreaks across Europe, with 139 cases reported since July, and 14 in Spain, half of them in the Castille and Leon region.

"The measure has been taken following an increased risk of the disease entering Spain in the last week," the ministry said in a statement. The new order extends to all farms, including organic and small-scale producers, to prevent contact with migratory birds that could spread the virus. It also bans keeping ducks and geese with other poultry, using untreated surface water, and holding bird fairs or exhibitions.

(Source - reuters)