French Mayor to Schoolkids: No Kissing!

France, Belgium see first swine flu deaths

(NEWSER) - A cruise ship carrying 60 crew members diagnosed with swine flu and 70 more showing symptoms has docked in southern France, the BBC reports. The infected will receive onboard treatment in Villefranche-sur-Mer. French officials say Spanish authorities confirmed the diagnosis, but Royal Caribbean, which owns the Voyager of the Seas, denied that report. The cruise line said it tested 64 people for influenza A, of which H1N1 is a strain, and found no infection, Reuters adds. More»

(NEWSER) - More than two dozen British schoolchildren on a school holiday were booted out of France after some came down with swine flu—but not before they were quarantined by medics in anti-contamination suits and insulted by locals. "It was as if we were dangerous criminals," said one of the visitors, who said one person in the town in Normandy told them, "Go back to your disease-ridden country." More»

Nagin, wife, staffer treated 'with courtesy'

(NEWSER) - Chinese officials are holding New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in quarantine with his wife and a staffer after a fellow plane passenger exhibited swine flu symptoms, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The three are "being treated with utmost courtesy" in Shanghai, where Nagin "is feeling well and continues to be in communication with his staff," a Nagin rep said. Nagin flew to China Friday on an economic development trip. More»

Former French prez goes before court tomorrow

(AP) - After years of claiming presidential immunity to avoid legal proceedings, Jacques Chirac is finally facing a court. Tomorrow, the former president becomes France's first former head of state to go on trial since its Nazi-era leader was exiled—that is, if the whole case isn't derailed by a last-minute protest by another defendant. If the trial goes ahead as planned, Chirac, 78, faces a month in court on charges that he masterminded a scheme to have Paris City Hall pay for work that benefited his political party when he was mayor—before he became president in 1995. More»

Officials had taken measures to stop spread

(NEWSER) - The H1N1 swine flu virus has reemerged in Egypt, infecting 1,172 people and killing 56 since Oct. 8, Reuters reports. Some 16,373 have been infected in the country, with 281 deaths, since it was first reported there in June 2009. Egyptian officials last year culled all pigs, shut schools, and stopped sick travelers at airports. Worldwide, 18,450 have died from the virus, says the World Health Organization. More»