MEDICINE

Fears about a possible global flu crisis and renewed worries over the capital health of some U.S. banks combined on Tuesday to rattle economists' hopes the financial system was stabilizing.

Renewed fears about the health of the global economy spooked markets on Tuesday as risks rose that Mexican swine flu may become a pandemic and a newspaper report said U.S. banks may need to raise fresh capital.

Oil prices extended losses on Tuesday, falling about 2 percent toward $49 a barrel after a report that Citigroup and Bank of America may need to raise more capital, renewing worries about the financial sector.

Oil prices extended losses and fell below $50 a barrel on Tuesday, as a rising death toll from a flu outbreak that started in Mexico fanned fears of a pandemic potentially hurting the world economy and air travel.

The World Bank said today that it will provide Mexico with more than $205 million to fight the deadly swine flu which broke out last week.

Kate Harding has spent most of her life on one diet or another, losing weight but always gaining it back. Determined to improve her quality of life, she joined a fast-growing group of anti-dieting activists promoting overweight people's civil rights.

Mexico said a new flu virus has killed up to 149 people and it ordered all schools to close across the country on Monday as the disease spread in the United States, Canada and Europe, raising fears of a pandemic.

The World Bank is set to triple healthcare spending in developing countries to $3.1 billion this year amid signs governments are cutting funding in the midst of a global economic crisis.

Early Monday afternoon, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, sending residents into the streets who were already frightened by the latest swine flu outbreak.

The threat of a pandemic triggered by a new swine flu strain that has killed more than 100 people in Mexico will provide a windfall for some makers of drugs, vaccines and protective masks.

In the dungeons of Zul'Gurub frequented by online game enthusiasts, a giant winged serpent called Hakkar the Soulflayer may offer important clues to epidemiologists trying to predict the impact of a pandemic.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq briefly turned lower on Monday, and the Dow Jones industrial average pared gains, after the World Health Organization commented on the swine flu outbreak.

Stocks recovered ground to turn positive on Monday as investors scooped up shares of defensive stocks in the wake of anxiety that a possible global flu outbreak could further hamper the world economy.

A continent that has battled deadly viruses such as the H5N1 bird flu and SARS in recent years, has been taking steps to ward off the new swine flu virus.

The flu virus spreading around the world should not be called swine flu as it also contains avian and human components and no pig was found ill with the disease so far, the World Animal Health body said on Monday.

The prompt resolution of a 15-year old dispute over access to U.S. roads by Mexican trucks could be another casualty of the deadly swine flu outbreak, international trade experts said on Monday.

Governments around the world acted to stem a possible flu pandemic on Monday, as a virus that has killed 103 people in Mexico and spread to North America was confirmed to have reached Europe.

Fears that any tentative green shoots in the global economy could be trampled by a deadly outbreak of swine flu put markets on edge on Monday, after world policymakers said over the weekend that a recovery could begin later this year but plenty of downside risk remained.

World stocks tumbled on Monday, after seven weeks of gains, and oil and the euro fell as concerns intensified the spread of swine flu, which has killed more than 100 people in Mexico, would hit the global economy.

Asian stocks fell about 2 percent on Monday as the outbreak of swine flu in North America hurt shares of airlines while prompting some market players to trim risky positions, hitting currencies such as the Australian dollar.

Oil prices fell over 2 percent toward $50 a barrel on Monday, paring some of the previous session's near 4 percent gain on fears of a global flu pandemic that could give the world economy another knock.