MEXICO

A deadly swine flu outbreak could push Mexico into a recession so deep it might rival the mid-1990s Tequila Crisis financial meltdown, as the economy shuts down and tourists stay away.

Egypt started seizing and slaughtering herds of pigs on Thursday as a precaution against swine flu, officials and farmers said, despite resistance by farmers and criticism from the United Nations.

Mexico began shutting down parts of its economy on Thursday to slow the spread of a new flu strain as officials urged increased worldwide precautions against an imminent pandemic.

Facebook becomes the latest social-networking site to monitor the spread of swine flu, tracking the occurrence of flu-related words and phrases in the United States and in Europe.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday he would tell his family to stay off planes or subways to avoid swine flu, prompting his office to go into damage control and the travel industry to complain.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon told his people to stay home from Friday for a five-day partial shutdown of the economy, after the World Health Organization said a swine flu pandemic was imminent.

Stock index futures pointed to a more than 1 percent gain on Thursday as the first quarter's better-than-expected corporate profits stoked optimism the economic slump is showing signs of easing.

Oil rose toward $52 a barrel on Thursday, partly in response to a more optimistic view of the world economy from the U.S. Federal Reserve that also helped drive equity markets to their highest level since early January.

Burger King Holdings reported a higher quarterly profit as a lower tax rate and cost controls offset a sharp decline in customer visits to company-owned eateries in Germany and Mexico in March.

The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that a global flu pandemic was imminent, raising its threat level as the swine flu virus spread and killed the first person outside of Mexico, a toddler in Texas.

Using a new tracking tool, search engine giant Google said on Wednesday it saw a spike in searches for information about flu among people in Mexico last week even before news of the outbreak became widely known.

U.S. airline shares rallied on Wednesday, partially erasing two days of steep losses, as markets decided that the swine flu outbreak might not significantly crimp travel demand.

A Mexican toddler in Texas has died of the new swine flu virus, the first confirmed death outside Mexico, as the World Health Organization said the outbreak showed clear signs of spreading around the world.

This first swine flu death in the U.S. has been confirmed in Texas with the death of a 23 month old toddler, this is first death of its kind to take place outside of Mexico.

Stocks extended gains on Wednesday on better-than-expected earnings and government data that suggested companies may start to rebuild inventories, even as the economy shrank more than expected in the first quarter.

Burger King Holdings reported a higher quarterly profit as a lower tax rate and cost controls helped offset March weakness at its company-operated restaurants.

Germany confirmed its first three cases of swine flu on Wednesday, marking the arrival of the virus in the heart of continental Europe.

Barely 100 days in office, President Barack Obama is facing his first domestic emergency with the outbreak of swine flu and is seeing yet again how fresh challenges can erupt from the unlikeliest of places.

A 23-month-old child in Texas has died from the new H1N1 swine flu, becoming the first U.S. death from the virus, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said on Wednesday.

A baby in Texas has died of the H1N1 flu strain, the first confirmed death outside Mexico from the virus, which health officials fear could cause a pandemic as it spread to two more countries.

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the first U.S. death from a new strain of swine flu showed it was time to take utmost precautions against its possible spread.