Dog takes mighty stand against developers

BEIJING, March 12 -- Workers are unable to demolish an empty building because one tenant's dog is refusing to leave.

A pet dog kept by a resident in Chongqing municipality remained in the empty building for six months.

The dog, Guai Guai, refused to move out and stayed behind after its owner moved to a new home. Every day, it stood on the roof of the building to guard it.

The owner tried many times to take the animal to his new house, but he failed.

"The owner's house was on the 8th floor of the building and the dog stopped on the 6th floor and never wanted to go down any more," the neighbor said.

(Source: China Daily)

White House asks for $1.5 bln for fighting swine flu

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The White House asked Congress to approve 1.5 billion U.S. dollars on Tuesday in a response to the fast spreading swine flu outbreak that has sickened over 60 in the United States.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a press conference that President Barack Obama raised the request to Congress in a letter "out of an abundance of caution" in order to "enhance our nation's capability to respond to the potential spread of this outbreak."

Obama said in the letter that the funds could be used to build up antiviral stockpiles, develop a vaccine, support the U.S. public health response to the outbreak and help international organizations stem its spread.

It could also go to supplementing the international response to the outbreak, with cases detected as far a field as Europe, Israel, and New Zealand, he added.

The United States has geared up its response after the swine flu outbreak beginning in Mexico more than two weeks ago spread to several American states including Texas, California and New York and has left at least 65 sick.

The U.S. government has declared a Public Health Emergency as a precautionary tool to ensure that it has the necessary resources to respond quickly and effectively.