Bird flu on a duck farm in northern England is the highly contagious H5N8 strain, the same form of the virus already discovered in Germany and the Netherlands, Britain's farm ministry confirmed on Tuesday.
The Dutch government released a former Venezuelan general who was detained on US drug charges when he arrived in Aruba to serve as his country's consul on the Dutch Caribbean island, sending him home Sunday night and defusing a diplomatic fight with its neighbor.
King Willem-Alexander became the first Dutch male monarch in more than a century Tuesday as his mother Beatrix abdicated to end a 33-year reign. His popular Argentine born wife became Queen Maxima.
The Euro zone trade surplus hit 14.9bn Euros in June up from 200m Euros a year ago. The surplus was the highest since the European Union's statistics agency began collecting data in 1999.