The World in Brief

Bush unveils $7.1 billion avian flu plan

Tony Pugh, Knight Ridder Newspapers… Bush unveils $7.1 billion avian flu plan

Tony Pugh, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Sounding the alarm against a possible global flu pandemic, President Bush on Tuesday asked Congress for $7.1 billion in emergency funds to help prepare the country for a possible outbreak of the deadly avian flu.

The flu virus, H5N1, is highly lethal, and, while it doesn’t spread easily to people, human beings have virtually no immunity. If the virus mutates into a form that passes easily among humans, it could kill millions of people around the world. The virus is continually evolving, and the number of countries where birds are infected and have then come into contact with humans continues to increase.

The president’s announcement was short on details, but signaled the administration’s strongest response yet to what many fear could be the worst threat to public health in nearly a century.

“Right now we have a list of goals from the president and we’ll have to see if there’s an actual plan on how to get these done,” said Dr. Thomas Inglesby, deputy director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “We need to know more than just the ‘whats.’ We need to know the ‘hows.'”

Speaking at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., Bush called for stockpiling enough bird flu vaccine to protect 20 million Americans, a goal that wouldn’t be met until 2008 or 2009. He also called for research into new technology that could speed up vaccine production.

Roadside bombs kill six soldiers in Iraq, 55 in month of October

By Matthew Schofield, Knight Ridder Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Roadside bombs killed more U.S. troops in Iraq during October than in any previous month of the war, continuing a trend that’s made the homemade explosives the primary threat to American forces in Iraq.

Six U.S. soldiers died from such bombs Monday, the last day of the month, bringing the total number of American troops who died from the explosives in October to 55. A roadside bomb also killed a Marine on Sunday, the military said Monday.

In all, 93 U.S. military personnel died in Iraq during the month, making it the deadliest month since January and the fourth deadliest month of the war. Of those, 75 were killed by hostile fire.

The roadside bombs, known in military parlance as improvised explosive devices, commonly are laid along roads that American military convoys frequent. They generally consist of artillery shells, which military intelligence experts say can be had for as little as $15 in Iraq these days, and detonators.

Bush heading into den of leftists

Colin McMahon, Chicago Tribune

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – For a guy with the headaches President George W. Bush faces, quiet time away and a pleasant visit with friends might be just the ticket. Too bad Bush is booked for South America this week.

The IV Summit of the Americas will bring Bush into territory that is not quite enemy but far less allied than before. Half the hemisphere’s leaders have changed since Bush took office in 2001 promising to make Latin America a priority. The region’s politics have changed, too.

A resurgent left is reshaping Latin America. This year alone, leftist protests toppled governments in Ecuador and Bolivia. A socialist took power for the first time in Uruguay. And Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, swimming in oil profits and brimming with bravado, is rallying the region against the United States and its economic prescriptions.

All told, more than 320 million Latin Americans have seen their nations turn to the left in recent years – in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

Yet this turn is not nearly so dramatic as some had feared and others had hoped. So far, complex economic and political realities have softened Latin America’s leftist wave.

Scientist sees songs in the squeaks of mice Eric Hand, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS – A Washington University neurobiologist has shown that the ultrasonic chirps of male mice are songs, allowing mice to join whales, bats, insects and birds in the select club of animals that sing.

Female pheromones trigger the singing, leading study author Timothy Holy to suspect that the songs evolved to help male mice find mates.

The study was published online Tuesday in the journal Public Library of Science Biology. Biologists, who have strict definitions for the rhythms and melodic motifs required for animal song, found it persuasive.

“I never would have expected this from mice,” said University of Massachusetts behavioral ecologist Jeff Podos in an e-mail after listening to the mouse songs. “I agree that they are complex enough to be called songs. Very cool!”

Holy induced the crooning by dousing Q-tips with female urine that contains scent hormones called pheromones. Male mice sniffed, tasted the Q-tip, and, about thirty seconds later, began to chirp.

But the chirps are eight octaves above middle C on a piano – about two too high for humans to hear. So, Holy makes the songs audible by shifting the pitch with software or by slowing down the playback, like spinning a 45 rpm record at 33 rpm.