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By Achmad Sukarsono JAKARTA (Reuters) - A Hong Kong laboratory recognised by the World Health Organisation has confirmed two more human bird flu deaths in Indonesia, raising the toll from the virus in the country to 18, a Health Ministry official said on Sunday. Hariadi Wibisono, director of control of animal-borne diseases at the ministry, also said local tests showed a 23-year-old man who died ...

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A Hong Kong laboratory recognised by the World Health Organisation has confirmed two more human bird flu deaths in Indonesia, raising the toll from the virus in the country to 18, a Health Ministry official said on Sunday. The confirmation came after tests on two women who died after local tests found them as having the H5N1 bird flu virus, said Hariadi Wibisono, director of c ...

By Stuart Grudgings NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans' Mardi Gras season came to life on Saturday as thousands of revellers lined the streets for a parade that eased the pain of Hurricane Katrina with a dose of satirical humour and debauchery. In the best traditions of the irreverent carnival, the first parade - "C'est Levee" -- skewered politicians and bureaucrats blamed for failing to confront the country's worst natural disaster, which killed 1,300 people after the city's levees buckled a ...

By Peter Graff LONDON (Reuters) - Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett broke the record for long-distance flight without refuelling on Saturday, making a hazardous emergency landing in southern England after flying 26,389 miles (42,450 km). After nearly four days existing on nothing but milkshakes, the 61-year-old American toasted his achievement with champagne. Asked what he would do next, he said simply: "Catch up on some sleep." Fossett burst two tyres when he landed his specially designed ...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in critical but stable condition following emergency surgery to remove parts of a damaged intestine, Hadassah hospital said on Sunday. In an update on Sharon, comatose since a stroke early last month, the hospital said he was still in its intensive care unit. Doctors removed 50 centimetres (20 inches), or a third, of Sharon's large intestine, in a four-hour operation on Saturday after spotting damage caused by a restricted blood ...

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's condition remained critical but stable the morning after he underwent emergency abdominal surgery, according to a hospital statement Sunday quoted by news agencies. Sharon has been in a coma at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem since suffering a massive stroke on January 4. On Saturday, he was rushed into emergency surgery to remove about one -third of his colon. The hospital statement, quoted by The Associated Press, said: "Prime Min ...

(CNN) -- A winter storm intensified Saturday night as it moved up the East Coast, causing airlines to cancel dozens of flights after up to 14 inches of snow was forecast for some areas by Sunday evening. There were no reports of airports closing, but the nor'easter prompted many cities to place all their snow plows in service. Delta Air Lines planned to cancel its Sunday flights at New York's LaGuardia Airport and airports in Newark, New Jersey; Boston, Massachusetts; and Providence, Rhode Isl ...

(CNN) -- After surviving a major fuel loss, some turbulence that nearly ripped his plane apart, and blowing out two tires on the landing, American adventurer Steve Fossett Saturday broke the world's flight distance record after traveling more than 26,000 miles (about 42,000 km) in 76 hours. And he did it all on less than two hours' sleep. "Well, that was an exciting finish," said a low-key but smiling Fossett at a news conference at Kent International Airport in Manston, England where he was  ...

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- A developing nor'easter headed up the East Coast on Saturday with a threat of heavy snow, canceling flights and putting road crews on overtime but cheering up skiers in a region spared harsh weather for most of this season. Blizzard warnings were posted from the New York City area into eastern New England, where up to 15 inches of snow was possible, and a winter storm warning was issued for most of New Jersey, the National Weather Service said. Heavy snow warnings we ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Presidents and their wives have been an amorous lot, their White House years coming at the pinnacle of lives entwined. The men pursued and loved these women as intensely as they clawed to power and unleashed armies. "Touch you I must or I'll burst," Ronald Reagan wrote to Nancy three years before he became California governor. Lyndon Johnson, then a young congressman from Texas, declared to his valentine, Lady Bird, mere weeks after they had met, "This morning I'm ambitious,  ...