International

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 07:58 UTC

  “US Swine flu severity no worse than seasonal flu” says expert

  

  As of April 29, 91 people in the United States had confirmed cases, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The first US death occurred on April 27, when a two-year-old child succumbed to swine flu after travelling from Mexico to Houston for treatment.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 07:31 UTC

  Vaccine against H1N1 virus could be ready for September

  

  United States health officials said Wednesday that a vaccine against the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, could be ready for human use by early September. The announcement was made at a joint press conference held by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Food and Drug Administration.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 05:27 UTC

  HMS Illustrious at Centenary celebration of Naval Aviation

  

  HMS Illustrious, which played a role in the aftermath of the 1982 Falklands War, is to visit London to mark the Centenary Year of Naval Aviation next week. On May 7 1909 the Admiralty first set aside £35,000 for the development of an airship - the process that led to the formation of the Fleet Air Arm.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 05:23 UTC

  Lamy expected to be re-elected for another five years as head of WTO

  

  The World Trade Organization's 153 members were set Thursday to approve another four-year term for Director-General Pascal Lamy, who is running unopposed for the top job

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 04:25 UTC

  Mexico’s Swine Flu and the Globalization of Disease

  

  Mexico has long been considered the laboratory of globalization. Now a potentially deadly virus has germinated in that laboratory, finding ideal conditions to move quickly along a path toward global pandemic.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2009 - 11:38 UTC

  Swine flu continues to weight on global shares

  

  Global shares have fallen further in Tuesday trading as the swine flu outbreak continues to weigh on markets. The UK's FTSE 100 finished the day 1.7% lower, while markets in Paris and Frankfurt ended almost 2% down. In the US, Wall Street also saw losses.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2009 - 04:10 UTC

  Swine flu could hit 40% of UK population says British WHO expert

  

  The deadly swine flu virus could infect up to 40% of the United Kingdom population in the next six months if the outbreak becomes a pandemic, world health officials said. Professor Neil Ferguson, a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) taskforce which decided to raise its alert over the virus to level four, said four in 10 people could be infected if the country is hit by a pandemic.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2009 - 04:08 UTC

  Religious cross-border procession unites Gibraltar and Spain’s La Linea

  

  Hundreds of faithful from Gibraltar and neighbouring Spanish location La Linea expressed their devotion to Our Lady of Europe on Monday in the first time ever cross-border procession, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Tuesday, April 28th 2009 - 11:49 UTC

  Swine flu two steps short from a full pandemic, warns WHO

  

  The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised its alert level over swine flu from three to four, two steps short of declaring a full pandemic. WHO Assistant Director General Dr Keiji Fukuda said it signalled a “significant step towards pandemic influenza”, but added “we are not there yet”.

• Tuesday, April 28th 2009 - 11:47 UTC

  Global crisis brings China and Taiwan closer

  

  The global crisis has its positive effects: Taiwan and China signed a set of new agreements on financial services and new direct flights on Sunday to facilitate business between the two sides, and allowing direct investment from China in recession-hit Taiwan.