JAKARTA: A 31-year-old Indonesian man has died of bird flu, raising the country s death toll from the H5N1 avian influenza virus to 91 - the world s highest, a Health Ministry official said yesterday. The man, identified by his initials MN, originally from Bengkalis district of Riau province in Sumatra island, died Tuesday just as he was admitted to Pekanbaru s Arifin Achmad Hospital, said Dasir Nurdin, an official at the Health Ministry s bird-flu information centre. The man, identified...

Haunted by the knowledge that influenza killed 50 million people in 1918, scientists and public health officials continue to seek ways to head off the next great pandemic. Others are looking for the best way to construct a vaccine, or antiviral drugs, to prime our immune systems to grapple with the more dangerous virus that may evolve from the avian flu. And it's never been done for any influenza virus, despite the substantial death tolls from the annual flu - a complacency that has begun...

Wrapped up in it, however, are some far trickier questions: Is it ethical to charge for saltwater that increasingly pumps up supermarket chickens? Is the sodium lactate used as a flavoring and preservative in sliced roast beef "natural?" How about the high-fructose corn syrup that sweetens sodas? Wrapped up in it, however, are some far trickier questions: Is it ethical to charge for saltwater that increasingly pumps up supermarket chickens? Is the sodium lactate used as a flavoring and...

Wrapped up in it, however, are some far trickier questions: Is it ethical to charge for saltwater that increasingly pumps up supermarket chickens? Is the sodium lactate used as a flavoring and preservative in sliced roast beef natural? How about the high-fructose corn syrup that sweetens sodas? Wrapped up in it, however, are some far trickier questions: Is it ethical to charge for saltwater that increasingly pumps up supermarket chickens? Is the sodium lactate used as a flavoring and...

If you've been reading this column long enough, you know cooking and gardening have topped my every New Year's resolution list. Instead of having to buy a few sprigs of overpriced herbs in a plastic box from the supermarket, I'll soon be snips away from bunches of affordable ingredient options. Fresh mint salads with herbal vinaigrettes and infused oils, herb crusted fish and poultry topped with chutneys and salsas, and soothing herbal teas. Now, if all goes as planted, my new herb garden...