BIRD FLU. The European Union urged its trading partners on Saturday not to over-react to an outbreak of bird flu in France after Japan suspended all French poultry imports and threatened a similar ban on the Netherlands. Japan's move caused alarm in Europe's two biggest poultry producers after tests confirmed the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu had hit a farm in eastern France, the first case of the virus in domestic farm birds in the EU. ?Whilst I understand their decision to take precautionary measures, any action must be proportionate,? Mandelson told Reuters during a visit to an annual farm show in Paris. ?There can be a tendency to over-react and this can bring us much danger,? he said.

INTERNET. Online auction company eBay Inc said it expects the number of Asia-Pacific users trading on its site to eventually outstrip that for the US and Europe as Internet penetration grows, but it also predicts imminent competition.

More than 30 million of the company's 181 million registered users worldwide are in the Asia-Pacific region, chief executive Meg Whitman said on Thursday. ?These are still small markets but as Internet usage and broadband penetration increase we see these markets growing bigger than our top markets currently,? she said.

And in markets like India, the company has seen a rise in high-value transactions and encouraging growth in smaller towns. ?Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing user region with markets like India, China and Korea leading the pack as Internet and broadband penetration rise,? Whitman told reporters. ?But we do foresee competition, as e-commerce is a growth area and we see a lot of venture capital money coming.?