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NEW YORK (AP) - The Associated Press will collect undisclosed damages as part of a settlement of its lawsuit against All Headline News, a site that allegedly misappropriated AP stories online. The AP considered the lawsuit an important test of the "hot news" doctrine, which was established in a 1918 Supreme Court case involving the AP. That principle holds that while facts cannot be copyrighted, news organizations can sue when competitors copy time-sensitive stories.

Researchers have found out what made the 1918 flu pandemic so deadly -- a group of three genes that lets the virus invade the lungs and cause pneumonia. They mixed samples of the 1918 influenza strain with modern seasonal flu viruses to find the three genes and said their study might help in the development of new flu drugs. The discovery, published in Tuesday's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could also point to mutations that might turn ordinary flu into a dangerous pandemic strain. Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin and colleagues at the...

SUNDAY, Aug. 17 (HealthDay News) -- People who lived through the 1918 flu pandemic that killed 50 million worldwide are still producing antibodies to the virus 90 years later, researchers report. "Most people have a notion that elderly people have very weak immunity or they have lost immunity," said lead researcher Dr. James E. Crowe Jr., a professor of pediatrics, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University. "This study shows that extremely elderly people have retained memory of being infected with the 1918 flu, even 90 years later," Crowe said. This is the first evidence that shows that people developed significant...

Should the Stars In Your Service Flag Turn To Gold (1918) lyrics by Dora F. Hendricks music by Charles H. Gabriel MIDI sequence os002.mid by John McDonnellShould the stars in your service flag turn to gold, If from somewhere in France comes the message you fear, Should the anguish of death on your heart be rolled, Creep close to God and you will hear His great heart throbbing, as soft and low He whispers: "Child, I know, I know! "Your very best for the world you've done: "I, also, gave my beloved Son, "I, also, gave my beloved Son." Like...

Spread Of 1918 Flu Pandemic ExplainedThis transmission electron micrograph of an ultra-thin specimen revealed some of the ultra-structural morphologic features seen in 1918 influenza virus virions. The prominent surface projections on the virions are composed of either the hemagglutinin, or neuraminidase type of glycoproteins. (Credit: Cynthia Goldsmith) ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2008) — MIT researchers have explained why two mutations in the H1N1 avian flu virus were critical for viral transmission in humans during the 1918 pandemic outbreak that killed at least 50 million people. The team showed that the 1918 influenza strain developed two mutations in a surface molecule called...

People who lived during the 1918 influenza epidemic may hold secrets in their blood that could help fight a future pandemic, but finding them now is a race against time. People who were toddlers at the end of World War I -- when the epidemic swept the globe and killed 50 million -- are in their 90s now. Nearly a lifetime after the notorious outbreak, researchers are hoping those who lived through it will come forward and donate a vial of blood, which then will be analyzed for antibodies to the virus. In particular, a New Jersey researcher is seeking...

Marines' First Crucible: Belleau Wood By Linda D. Kozaryn American Forces Press Service BELLEAU, France, June 18, 1998 -- For military historians and battlefield buffs, the wheat fields and farm villages here are rich in the details of heroic attacks, untold sacrifices and ultimate victory. For others, especially the U.S. Marine Corps, this is hallowed ground, a sacred place of pilgrimage. American, French and German military men and women come here to honor fallen brethren. They also come so that those who fought and died live on in the hearts and minds of those who follow. Silently, they visit...

The Deadly VirusThe Influenza Epidemic of 1918 True or False? The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 killed more people than died in World War One.Hard as it is to believe, the answer is true. World War I claimed an estimated 16 million lives. The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One fifth of the world's population was attacked by this deadly virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history. The plague emerged in two phases. In late spring of 1918, the first phase, known as the...

HARTFORD, Conn. - A Yale University historian discovered a 1918 letter that raises anew questions about a secretive Yale student society and the remains of the American Indian leader Geronimo. The letter, written by a member of Skull and Bones to another member of the society, purports that some of the Indian leader's remains were spirited from his burial plot in Fort Sill, Okla., to a stone tomb in New Haven that serves as the club's headquarters. A portion of the letter and an accompanying story were posted Monday on the Yale Alumni Magazine's Web site. At one of the...

A Turkish girl died on Sunday from suspected bird flu, while her brother was critically ill in hospital after testing positive for the virus. Although the Health Ministry said initial tests on 12-year-old Fatma Ozcan proved negative, doctors still suspect she contracted the deadly disease. If both siblings are confirmed to have bird flu, it would bring the number of human cases in Turkey to 20. The ministry said tests on her brother Muhammet, 5, showed he has the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has already killed three other children in Dogubayazit, the same town in eastern Van province...

Bird flu spreads in Turkey From correspondents in Ankara 08jan06 AVIAN influenza has been found among birds in three more regions across Turkey after the country confirmed the first human deaths from the virus outside southeast Asia, officials said this morning. The disease was detected in the northwestern province of Bursa, some 1400km from the worst-hit areas in the east, where it killed two children over the past week, the Anatolia news agency reported. Dead chicken in the village of Karahidir tested positive for bird flu and slaughter of poultry in the area began, local farming official Serdar Kavasoglu told...

Looking for the complete (as opposed to excerpted) versions of the following Wall Street Journal pieces: "Hillary's Vaccine Shortage" (orig published 8/15/03) "Avian Virus Caused The 1918 Pandemic, New Studies Show" Kindly send via FReepmail. Thanx.

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster. In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe was winding down and peace was on the...

Killer Findings: Scientists piece together 1918-flu virus Christen Brownlee The "Spanish" flu killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million people worldwide between 1918 and 1919. Hoping to prevent such a deadly outbreak from recurring, scientists have long strived to figure out what characteristics differentiate that strain from other, more-benign varieties. Because researchers have lacked live samples of the killer virus, however, they couldn't answer this pivotal question. Two new studies now shed unprecedented light on the 1918 strain. The first study caps a 9-year effort led by Jeffrey Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Rockville, Md.,...

Scientists identify key factor in switch from birds to humans British scientists have solved a secret of an avian flu virus which killed up to 40 million people worldwide 86 years ago. They now know more about how a disease of birds switched to humans to trigger the most lethal outbreak in history. A team from the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, north London, used pathological samples taken from victims of the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 to recreate the structure of a haemagglutinin protein vital in the leap between species. "This tells us more about the...

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster....snip...In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world's population was infected. The flu was most deadly for ...

BANGKOK, Thailand --World Health Organization experts are warning that Asia's bird flu is the most likely candidate to cause the world's next pandemic, with the possibility of as many as 7 million deaths and billions of outbreaks. ``I believe we are closer now to a pandemic than at any time in recent years,'' Shigeru Omi, Western Pacific regional director of WHO, said Friday at a regional meeting about the disease. ``The current outbreak (of avian influenza) in poultry is historically unprecedented in terms of geographical spread and impact,'' he said. ``This virus appears to be not only very resilient, but...

A researcher from China's Harbin Veterinary Research Institute has today presented initial evidence that pigs from farms in parts of China have been infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. Pigs are known to be susceptible to infection with avian influenza viruses. However, natural infection of pigs with the H5N1 strain has not been previously reported. In order to assess the implications for human health, it is important to know whether the reported infections in pigs are rare events, possibly caused by contact between pigs and wild birds. Wild aquatic birds, which are the natural reservoir of all influenza...

Dateline: The Couch and the Big Screen Subtitle: For you fans of urban legends and/or JFK trivia, the title does not imply I am a famous cream pie. In 1986, I spent the summer as a legacy counselor in a beautiful wooded camp for the children of rich New York Long Islanders on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. The legacy part is following in my sister's path when she served as the camp Nurse a few years before. It was an amazing experience both in seeing a magnificant part of the country to which I had not previously been exposed,...

Bronson Arroyo got an extra day to think about the biggest start of his career, and the biggest game of the Boston Red Sox's season. After Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez couldn't get the Red Sox a win against the New York Yankees in the first two games of the AL championship series, Arroyo will take the hill for Game 3 at Fenway Park. Stumbling home in an 0-2 hole and with Schilling possibly done for the series, the Red Sox are hoping the familiar surroundings of Fenway Park help get them back in the ALCS. Arroyo was set to...