Bird Flu, the Next World Pandemic?

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DATE : Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:00:00 GMT
Entered in Database : 2006-02-22 16:00:00
length : 18420394
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Bird flu is turning up all over the world--in birds. So far, the only humans affected are those in immediate contact with birds, but the virus is deadly. Of 170 humans that have been sickened by bird flu, 92 have died. But the spread of the virus in birds--from Asia to Africa and to Europe--has led to fears that it could mutate so it could pass from human to human, which could lead to an outbreak worldwide. Researchers simply don't know if bird flu will do that or just disappear. What they do know is that there will be another pandemic, like the one that killed 20 to 40 million people in 1918. Are we prepared? Making News: Sectarian Strife over Attacks on Iraqi Religious Sites
Gunmen dressed in uniforms blew the golden dome off a shrine that's sacred to Shiites today in Samarra, a town dominated by Sunnis. Large crowds took to the streets, and US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad called it a deliberate effort to foment sectarian hostilities. Babak Dehghanpisheh is in Baghdad for Newsweek magazine.Reporter's Notebook: National Implications of Morales Execution Postponement
Last night, for the second time, California delayed the execution of Michael Morales who's admitted to the torture, rape and murder of a 17 year-old girl. But a federal judge has raised questions about lethal injection. Is it "cruel and unusual punishment," which is banned by the 8th amendment to the US Constitution? Federal Judge Jeremy Fogle wants medical evidence. We get two legal opinions from law professors Deborah Denno of Fordham University and Douglas Berman of Ohio State University.

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