Balanced News Blog

Officials in at least two nations now suspect the avian flu bug has mutated into a virus that is being transmitted from human to human — a development world health authorities have estimated could result in the deaths of tens of millions.

Qassam rockets launched at southern town of Ashkelon land in open field; no injuries reported in attack. IDF responds with artillery fire at Strip. The region suffered two other attacks on Friday, when rocket launched from Gaza landed in Avocado orchard, another landed near town of Sderot.

Football legend George Best today made his final journey though the streets of his home city in an extraordinary funeral for an extraordinary man.

Pakistan says a top al-Qaeda commander has been killed in the country’s tribal belt along the Afghan border. Egyptian-born Abu Hamza Rabia, described as al-Qaeda’s operational commander, was among five militants killed in a blast in North Waziristan.

One of the world’s wealthiest women is getting married in Brazil in what’s being called the wedding of the decade. Greek billionairess Athina Roussel Onassis, 20, will exchange vows with Brazil’s Olympic horse-riding champion, Alvaro Alfonso de Miranda, who is 32.

The remains of at least 20 bodies have been found in a grave in east Lebanon, near the former headquarters of the Syrian army intelligence, police say.

The Japanese automaker said the paint contains a newly developed resin that can stop scratches from marking the car’s outer layer.

A Palestinian vessel opened fire on an Israeli naval boat early Saturday when intercepted in no-go waters off the Gaza Strip. Palestinian gunfire was also aimed at the Israeli boat from Gaza’s shore. Return Israeli fire sank the Palestinian vessel.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will look at the “deeply flawed” Bowl Championship Series.

Scientists at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have coaxed six atoms into spinning together in two opposite directions at the same time, a so-called Schrödinger “cat” state that obeys the unusual laws of quantum physics.