The virus thought to cause Sars is constantly changing form, say scientists - which will make developing a vaccine difficult. The Beijing Genomics Institute reported that the virus is "expected to mutate very fast and very easily".
Secondary schools in Hong Kong reopened after a three-week closure because of the Sars outbreak. About 200,000 children from around 400 schools went back to class, although 10 schools refused to open.
Belgium has announced another mass cull of chickens and other poultry in an effort to combat bird flu, a highly contagious disease that has apparently spread from the Netherlands. The Belgian authorities have already destroyed a quarter of a million birds
Public transit commuters around Toronto may have been exposed to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and should check themselves for symptoms, Toronto public health officials said Sunday. The Ministry of Health issued an advisory Sunday saying an infected p
State media reported that Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong were removed from senior positions in the Communist Party, a formal step which will almost certainly see them fired from their government posts. In a statement Sunday t
Pope John Paul II began Easter Sunday Mass with a call to the faithful to work tirelessly for peace, as tens of thousands of people jammed rain-soaked St. Peter's Square for the service.
Five Palestinians and one Israeli soldier are reported to have been killed as Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships have raided a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in one of their biggest operations of recent months. The raid comes as argume
China has cancelled its week-long May Day holiday, as the health ministry announced a sharp increase in the incidence of the flu-like Sars virus. China's official death toll is now 79, with 1,807 confirmed cases of the illness, the health ministry has ann
Turnout is reported high in Nigeria's landmark presidential election, the first such poll organized by a civilian government in 20 years. Thousands of police officers are guarding voting precincts to prevent fraud and violence.
A judge in the United States has ordered the deportation of an elderly Ukrainian-born man accused of being a guard at a Nazi concentration camp during World WarII.Theodor Szehinskyj, 79, is accused of serving in a Waffen-SS Death's Head unit during the wa
Talks over North Korea's nuclear programme appear to be back on track after confusion about a statement apparently saying Pyongyang had started reprocessing thousands of spent fuel rods. The United States has said an English-language statement from North
Vietnam's health authority has proposed that its northern land border with China be temporarily shut to prevent Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) from spreading into the country. Vietnam has had 68 SARS infections including five deaths, but the out
North Korea has said it is "successfully reprocessing" more than 8,000 spent fuel rods - a move that can enable the extraction of plutonium for several nuclear bombs. The procedure could allow North Korea to add, within months, six to eight bombs to the a
Russian members of parliament have furiously accused the government of losing the battle against crime a day after the killing of leading liberal politician. A Communist member of the lower house of parliament, Ivan Nikitchuk, said President Vladimir Puti
Poland has signed a multi-billion dollar contract to buy 48 American fighter planes. It is the biggest defence contract signed by a former Soviet bloc country since the end of the Cold War.
Europe will not tolerate any more "dividing lines", a 40-nation conference declared as the EU prepares to push deep into ex-Soviet territory. The conference gathered the European Union with the expanding bloc's new neighbours to the south and east, includ
India, which has the world's second largest population, has recorded its first confirmed case of the deadly SARS virus, AP reported, citing officials from the National Institute of Virology. A 32-year-old Indian man in the western state of Goa was in isol
China's north-western region of Qinghai has been struck by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake.
Reclusive US billionaire Sir John Paul Getty II has died at 10.40am Thursday at a London hospital at the age of 70.
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri has resigned, announced BBC today. Hariri submitted his resignation at a meeting with President Emile Lahoud in the presidential palace.
UN Happiness Report: Bulgaria's Astonishing Leap in Rankings
Bulgaria: 3 Regions With Lowest Life Expectancy - EU Report 2022
