CRAZY TIMES PART 2

After a violent day in Iraq, U.S. death toll tops 1,900

By STEVEN R. HURST
of The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The war in Iraq passed a sobering milepost Tuesday when U.S. officials reported 12 more Americans were killed - eight of them members of the armed forces, raising to more than 1,900 the number of U.S. service members who have died in the country since the invasion


World finally wakes up to threat of bird flu pandemic
1 hour, 29 minutes ago

After treating bird flu as a largely Asian problem, the world is now waking up to the danger that millions of people could die from a pandemic if drastic counter-measures are not put in place.
US President George W. Bush has called for an "international partnership" against the threat with the dreaded H5N1 virus now creeping into Europe, and countries are stocking up on flu medicine as scientists search for a vaccine.

The fear is that the H5N1 virus in domesticated poultry and migratory birds will develop into a strain that is easily transferable among humans.
Experts fear there will only be a window of a few weeks to contain an outbreak before a pandemic virus spreads with lethal speed.