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CANADA

First fatal case of bird flu in N. America

Health officials said Wednesday a fatal case of H5N1 bird flu has been reported in Canada, the first such case in North America.

Health Minister Rona Ambrose said that the case, in Alberta, was an isolated one and that the risk to the general public was very low.

Officials said the person began to feel ill on a flight to Canada from Beijing on Dec. 27. They said it was the first case of H5N1 circulating in Beijing and said China looking was looking into it.

"This is the first evidence of this particular virus circulating in Beijing. Chinese authorities are going to be very interested. We've contacted them already," Dr. Gregory Taylor said.

The World Health Organization says that as of mid-December, there had been 648 laboratory-confirmed human cases of H5N1 flu, reported mostly in Asia. Of those, 384 were fatal. - AP
MEXICO

Conjoined whales die

The Mexican government said Wednesday that fishermen found two rare conjoined gray whale calves that died shortly after being born. Biologist Benito Bermudez said the whales were found alive in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon in the Baja California Peninsula but lived only a few hours. Bermudez said they were linked at the waist, with two full heads and tail fins. - AP

BRAZIL

It's a hot time in Rio

Sure, it's mind-bogglingly cold in the Northern Hemisphere. But the sweltering weather on the opposite end of the Earth has man and beast alike dreaming of ice. Brazil is sizzling, and with the heat index sometimes soaring above 120 F, keepers at the Rio de Janeiro zoo are giving the animals ice pops to beat the heat. The heat wave extended to neighboring Argentina, where hundreds of dead fish floated in a lake in the capital city of Buenos Aires. - AP

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