The recent news about "Swine Flu" has caused widespread concern, perhaps with memories of the SARS outbreak only a few years ago, which ended up killing over 900 people, still fresh in our minds. Today the Toronto Star provided a helpful list of questions and answers about Swine Flu: Q: What can I do to prevent myself from getting the flu? A:...

It sounds as though the much ballyhooed United States stimulus deal will soon be passed, to the tune of somewhere between $819 billion and $838 billion. (Give or take a few billion.) It's hard for me to even mentally grasp that amount of money. For the sake of comparison, $800 billion would be enough to build approximately 12 million Habitat for...

Fires in Australia have erased entire towns. Stories of families being swallowed by the flames as they drove away have grabbed the attention of the world. As fires smoldered and sometimes raged across sections of the scarred landscape Tuesday, rescue officials in Victoria attempted to offer solace to hundreds burned out of their homes and frustrated...

The hum in the office grew as people filtered in that morning. Soft chuckles over some incident the night before, muffled conversations and ringing phones filled the air. Suddenly, an urgent tone broke in. The first reports of a possible tragedy began circulating, and while some employees wrapped up phone calls, one or two turned on a radio, and...