World Briefs

HUNAN, China - A girl aged two is critically ill with the H5N1 strain of bird flu in Shanxi, northern China, in the second case reported by China in as many weeks.

The girl was discovered ill on 7 January in the central province of Hunan and taken to a hospital in her home province, Chinese state media say. Health officials did not say how the child had become infected. A woman infected with bird flu died in Beijing earlier after buying ducks at a market in Hebei province.

China has the world's biggest poultry population and is seen as critical in the fight to contain H5N1, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, killing at least 247 people.

MOSCOW – Russia and Ukraine announced a deal Sunday to end the bitter dispute that has blocked Russian natural gas from Europe for nearly two weeks and deeply shaken Europeans' trust in the two as reliable energy suppliers.

The early morning agreement between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko came after intense negotiations.

Still, relief for millions of frustrated consumers and businesses could be days away. The deal on 2009 gas prices is not likely to be finalized until at least Monday, when Tymoshenko returns to Moscow.

NEW YORK – The New York Times Company is holding talks with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim about investing in the newspaper to help it ease its financial problems, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Citing unnamed "people familiar with the matter," the newspaper said on its website that the talks might yet fall apart, but one of the options being discussed is a preferred-stock issue.

Under this scenario, the Times Co. would issue Slim preferred stock, which carries no voting right but pays an annual dividend, in return for his investment, the report said. According to The Journal, the investment would be similar to a loan.

MEXICO CITY – Indiscriminate kidnappings. Nearly daily beheadings. Gangs that mock and kill government agents.

This isn't Iraq or Pakistan. It's Mexico, which the U.S. government and a growing number of experts say is becoming one of the world's biggest security risks.

In its latest report anticipating possible global security risks, the U.S. Joint Forces Command lumps Mexico and Pakistan together as being at risk of a "rapid and sudden collapse."

"The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels," the command said in the report published Nov. 25.

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