The H1N1 outbreak of swine flu, which began in Mexico this April, has now spread across the globe. There have been at least 3,330 deaths from the swine flu since the virus started spreading, out of almost 316,000 total reported cases.
Nine countries — Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the UK, and the US — have promised to send ten percent of their antiviral vaccine supply to other countries, should the latter be in need of it. The plan was agreed to "in recognition that diseases know no borders and that the h
A court in Cyprus has begun the trial of defunct airline Helios and four managers over an air disaster in Greece. The five are facing a total of 1,190 charges after Flight 522 went down near Athens in 2005, killing 121 people.
All defendants entered not guilty pleas, and are alleged by prosecutors to have operated their business in an unsafe manner. It is alleged that the flight should never have been allowed to take off. As well as the company, executive chairman Andreas Drakos, managing director Demetris Pantazis, operations manager George K
The 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia syndicate, has been accused by a former member of the gang of sinking dozens of ships loaded with toxic waste, much of it radioactive. He says a journalist and cameraman were killed to keep them from revealing the activity.
Turncoat Francesco Fonti has identified a wreck located a few months ago by environmental workers as MV Kunsky or Cunsky and says he sunk it himself in 1992, complete with 100 barrels of radioactive waste. The gang received £100,000 ($162,720) for the job.
The wreck was scoured last week b
The Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the internationally recognized government of the former state of Somalia, could not stop an attack conducted by insurgents in the capital as they shelled the city's port; but, some rounds fell short which led to dozens of casualties.
Late last week, Somali insurgents conducted a mortar attack in downtown Mogadishu missing their intended target at the city's seaport; instead, hitting a veteran's hospital killing between 6 and 9 former soldiers and wounding at least 12 others. Many of the hospit
British chef Keith Floyd has died at the age of 65 after a heart attack in Dorset, England.
Keith Floyd was best known for his cookery programmes, particularly on British television channel BBC, although he has also featured on shows on ITV. He was arguably most popular for his Floyd on series, with shows like Floyd on Food, Floyd on Spain, Floyd on Italy etc. He also presented Floyd on GMTV in 1998. Keith had been presenting programmes from 1984 to 2001.
On July 29, it was reported that Floyd had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in June. Aft
British comedian Eddie Izzard has completed a series of 43 marathons in just 51 days to raise money for Sport Relief, a charity based in the United Kingdom.
The marathons covered a total running distance of 1,100 miles (1,700 kilometers) across the United Kingdom. He ran from London, England, to Cardiff, Wales, to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Edinburgh, Scotland and back to London again. Izzard carried a flag of each of the four countries depending on which one he was running in.
Eddie is 47 years old and had spent just five weeks training f
Data released on Wednesday from the British government says that the unemployment rate in the
United Kingdom has reached its highest level in thirteen years, with the jobless rate at 7.9%.
2.47 million people are now out of work in the UK, up 210,000 or 0.7% in the quarter leading to July. The unemployment level has not been this high since November 1996.
Young people, aged 16 to 24 years old, have been affected the most by the recession, with 947,000 having been out of jobs, the highest level recorded.
Some economic analysts have suggested
Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds have both split ways with the team. The move comes as Renault announce they will not fight a charge of race-fixing.
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) accused Renault of ordering Nelson Piquet, Jr. to crash during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. The wreck brought out the safety car and most other competitors made refueling stops while it was out. However, Renault's Fernando Alonso had pitted unusually early and was able to move up to take one of just two vict
Singer, songwriter and actor Patrick Swayze died on Monday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.
Swayze was born Patrick Wayne Swayze on August 18, 1952 in Houston, Texas, USA. He starred in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, and also had a hit song from the movie with "She's Like The Wind", with Wendy Fraser, which was later covered by hip-hop artist Lumidee and R&B singer Tony Sunshine.
Swayze also starred in the 1990 film Ghost with Demi Moore. In addition to the two films, he starred in Road House with musician Jeff Heale
Brawn-Mercedes driver Rubens Barrichello won the FIA Formula One 2009 Gran Premio Santander d'Italia at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy. His team-mate Jenson Button came second.
The Brazilian led the race after the McLaren team carried out a second pit-stop for Lewis Hamilton, who had led from pole position. The last spot on the podium was filled by Kimi Räikkönen in a Ferrari after Hamilton crashed dramatically on the last lap chasing Button too hard.
Brawn executed a one pit-stop strategy that allowed them to save time they would lose
A humpback whale has been found dead in the River Thames in London, England.
The whale was a male juvenile and measured 28 feet (9 metres). It was the first whale of its kind to be found in the river. The first and only reported sighting of the whale was on Thursday when it was spotted in the same river, between the London districts of Northfleet and Tilbury. Scientific experts suspected that the creature may have been a bottlenose whale at the time. There were no subsequent sightings of the whale until Saturday morning, when the humpback whal
A graduate student attending Yale University who went missing five days before her planned wedding was found dead on Sunday, police said.
Annie Le, an American doctoral student seeking a degree in medicine, went missing on September 8, five days before her planned wedding. Investigators reviewed footage from the security cameras of 10 Amistad, the building where Le last entered, and found no evidence that she had left. Police scouring the building found a body, later identified as Le's, hidden in a wall. Earlier, police had found bloody clothe
