The United Nation's World Health Organization officially declared the swine flu a global pandemic – the first such designation in 41 years. The alert came after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, Japan, Britain, Chile and elsewhere. The outbreak originally made headlines in April when Mexican officials reported a large number of hospitalizations among healthy adults. The virus spread quickly and is now widespread in the U.S. where it has infected more than one million people. It is a new strain, called H1N1, and its origins are unclear, though health officials challenge the popular story that it rose in factory pig farms in Mexico. More likely, it arose in China and traveled to Mexico in an infected human. Principal transmission of the virus is through the air, though touching spreads it as well. Most people lack immunity, which is why a massive inoculation program will be conducted this fall in the U.S. and other countries, when cold weather returns. H1N1 is not necessarily more deadly than a regular seasonal flu, which kills between 250,000 to 500,000 people a year globally. Of concern, however, is its novelty and the easy way it spreads from human to human, particularly among young people.

President Obama announced a major legislative effort aimed at reforming federal oversight of financial markets, a consequence of last fall's near-collapse on Wall Street. "We need to be sure that the government has the tools it needs to manage crises, if and when they arise," he said, "so that we are not left with untenable choices between bailouts  and  financial  collapse."  The  proposed  package