By Theresea Hughes

Elvis Presley Gospel Music

A lot of people may not associate Elvis Presley with gospel music, but he wrote over 50 gospel songs.  There have been many documentaries made regarding Elvis Presley’s love of gospel music.  He started out in music by singing at a tiny church in Memphis.  Also, he is a member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

He Touched Me:  The Gospel Music of Elvis Presley Volumes 1 and 2 feature over 30 of Elvis’ gospel recordings.  It also contains stories from some of the people that knew him best.  He was heavily influenced by two of the top southern gospel music quartets, “The Blackwood Brothers” and “The Statesmen.”  Also, Presley had a lifelong bond with gospel legend J.D. Sumner.

Presley once said, “Since I was two years old, all I knew was gospel music. That music became such a part of my life it was as natural as dancing. A way to escape from the problems. And my way of release.”  As a kid, Presley’s favorite singer was southern gospel singer Jake Hess.  He is also said to be one of Presley’s greatest influences to his unique style.

There was entire book written about the gospel music of Elvis.  It is titled “The Gospel Side of Elvis,” and was written by Joe Moscheo.  This is a really nice book written from a great perspective.  Moscheo played piano in some songs for Elvis’ recordings in the studio.  He also sang at Presley’s funeral, giving this book a unique and interesting perspective.  There have been many other books and documentaries released analyzing Elvis’ gospel music career.

Although once he became famous, record executives imposed their will on him and he began writing hits like “Jailhouse Rock” and “Hound Dog,”  Elvis never lost his love for the southern gospel music that he was raised on.  Songs like “Jailhouse Rock” and Hound Dog” raised him to the status of musical icon, but gospel music was his first love.

Elvis was especially found of black gospel music.  Another huge influence on Presley’s music was Sister Rosetta Tharpe.  As a boy Elvis would rush home every day after school just to listen to her and other black gospel singers on a special show that featured it on the radio.  Tharpe and Presley had something in common in that they both controversially blended styles of music.  Presley blended country music with rhythm and blues, while Tharpe mixed black spirituals with big band jazz.

At many of his concerts Elvis would use gospel groups as his backup singers.  These gospel groups would travel with him while he was on tour.  Elvis would use gospel music to relax.  It was also very common to see him listening to it to prepare for a show.

While it is very well-known that Elvis did listen to gospel music and even made gospel songs, many do not fully understand the extent of the impact that gospel music made on Elvis’ career.  The impact the gospel had on him was not just limited to music.  It has often been said that most of the literature Elvis carried was religous-based and that he never went on tour without the Bible.  Few understand the important of faith in the life of Elvis Presley.

Gospel Music Download -  Rev 7 Gospel Music

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Steinway Artist Harry Connick, Jr. and his band performed at the 2010 Governor’s Ball hosted by President and Mrs. Obama on Sunday evening, February 21. Due to a packed East Room of the White House, the usual piano that occupies the room (a 1938 Steinway Art Case piano) was replaced with a smaller Steinway Model O Grand piano that was provided by Steinway Piano Gallery, Washington, D.C. for the event.

During the day, Connick, Jr. and his band performed for (and with) a group of Washington-area music students at a preview of the night’s event led by Mrs. Obama. Prior to the performance, Mrs. Obama paid tribute to Connick, Jr. for his humanitarian efforts in co-founding the Musicians’ Village, part of the New Orleans Habitat for Humanity rebuilding effort following Katrina.

On December 3, 2009, President Obama and a group of world-renowned performers were on hand for the National Tree Lighting Ceremony. In a tradition dating back to 1923, the President was on hand at the Ellipse near the White House to light the tree while bringing a message of peace and hope to the world.

For this year’s event, a group of talented performers were selected to perform, including Steinway Artist Brad Mehldau, Grammy award winner Sheryl Crow, hip-hop artist Common, country artist Ray LaMontagne, American Idol Jordin Sparks, jazz artist Joshua Redman, and the all-female music ensemble Celtic Woman.

All of the event’s performers who played piano or had piano accompaniment used a Steinway Model D concert grand piano (identification number CD-381) that is part of Steinway’s famed bank of Concert & Artist pianos stationed around the world at Steinway dealers. The piano was delivered from Steinway Piano Gallery in Washington, DC for the event and technicians spent over 9 hours preparing the piano so it would be in perfect playing condition for the performances.

Steinway and the White House have a long and storied history. In 1903, the 100,000th Steinway grand piano was presented to the White House as a gift. It was featured in the East Room of the White House until 1938, when it was replaced by the 300,000th Steinway grand — an Art Case piano with gilt American Eagle supports that is undoubtedly the most famous piano in the White House. The 1938 grand piano is still featured in the East Room (and sometimes in the Entrance Hall) of the White House. The original 1903 grand piano now resides in the Smithsonian Museum.

The next stop for the Steinway concert grand piano used at the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It is one of three Steinway grand pianos that are being provided for the Kennedy Center Honors Program, which will be televised on CBS, Tuesday, December 29 at 9 p.m. EST.

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December 2009.

Steinway Piano Gallery – Washington DC provides the piano for the National Tree Lighting Ceremony 2009.

The First Family waving to the crowd from behind the Steinway concert grand piano. Also pictured Jordin Sparks and Randy Jackson.

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• A Long Island Success Story: Jacobi Industries Launches Website

Jacobi Industries, a Long Island-based precision machine parts manufacturing company, has launched their new website: http://www.jacobiindustries.com. The firm is situated in a 5,000 square-foot facility in Medford, New York, and primarily specializes in manufacturing parts, replacement parts, and stainless steel fabrications for some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the field. In addition to pharmaceuticals, Jacobi Industries also manufactures and assembles parts for the military, nuclear and commercial markets.

At jacobiindustries.com, visitors can virtually tour the facility and review the company’s capabilities including:

• CNC Machining Centers;
• CNC Turning Centers;
• Automatic Honing Equipment;
• Precision Dynamic Balancing (from .5 grams to 500 lbs.); and,
• Reverse Engineering

Jacobi Industries provides their clients with conventional milling, turning and precision welding, as well as construction of specialized machinery, custom engineered products or prototype development.

Says Roger Jacobi, president, Jacobi Industries, “My father, Otto Jacobi, was a tool and die maker, and started this business in 1954. Although we’ve continued in the tradition of a family business, we have been able to significantly expand in order to meet the growing demands of our clients.”

The Jacobi family migrated to the United States in the late 1800′s. Fifty-seven years ago founder, Otto Jacobi began the business in the basement of his home, quickly building the company’s reputation one client at a time. “Jacobi Industries thrives on word-of-mouth recommendations,” says Roger Jacobi. “We hold true to our mission of providing high quality design to every client we service. If you were to ask what separates us from most other Long Island businesses, I would answer, we actually make things. We have been able to grow our company because we produce something tangible – something other manufacturers need in order to make their own products.”

Despite a decline in the American manufacturing sector, Jacobi Industries has continued to grow and prosper for over half a century in the heart of Long Island.

For more information on Jacobi Industries, Jacobi Industries’ product line, or http://www.jacobiindustries.com, contact:
631.736.5394. Email: sales@jacobiindustries.com.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Wolfgang Puck’s accent is Austrian, and his culinary bent ranges from Italian to Asian, but Puck’s business style is pure American entrepreneur. From his start as a 14-year-old apprentice in his native Austria, Puck has built a restaurant, frozen-food, and high-end kitchenware empire. He is most famously known for Spago, his pizzeria to the stars, which opened on Sunset Boulevard in 1982. But that was just the beginning. Today, his 16 restaurants and more than 80 express bistros stretch from New York to Maui.

My mother was a hotel chef in the small town where I grew up in Austria. My dad was a coal miner and a boxer. I always hung out in the kitchen with my mom. I quit school when I was 14 and got a job as a cooking apprentice at a hotel. When I told my father, he said, “Well, you’re good for nothing. Cooking is for women.”

By 18, I decided I wanted to move to France. I wrote letter after letter to all the two- and three-star restaurants until Raymond Thuilier, the owner of Provence’s famous Baumanière, hired me. He didn’t pay me for three months. I finally told him I had to leave, because I was broke, but he said, “No, I like you!” He started paying me, and he is the reason I decided to become a chef. He was my mentor: town mayor, painter, and a great chef who cooked from the heart without recipes — a real Renaissance man.

In 1975, I moved to Los Angeles to be a chef at a restaurant owned by a company with French restaurants scattered across the country. But I didn’t like the manager. One day, he wrote a menu and said, “Cook it.” I said, “You wrote it; you cook it.” And I left.

When my first paycheck bounced at my new job, at Ma Maison, I talked to the owner, who offered me 10 percent of the restaurant and said, “If we do better, you will, too.” We started to make money; famous people started showing up. When I found this location on Sunset, I said to him, “Let’s do an Italian-style trattoria.” He said, “I want 51 percent.” I took the lease myself the next day and gave three months’ notice. He told me to leave right away. That was in 1981.

I was 33 when I opened Spago, in January 1982. I used fresh goat cheese, arugula, sun-dried tomatoes. A farmer in Sonoma raised lambs for me. I served melon and white corn only in July and picked the day before. Other restaurants served good food, but their waiters wore stuffy black ties. Ours wore shirts and aprons. I worked the grill every night, and I loved it. The night Billy Wilder showed up with Sidney Poitier, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau, I knew I made it.

I opened Chinois — all French Asian — in Santa Monica, in 1983, followed by Postrio — all Italian — in San Francisco, in 1989.

Johnny Carson used to come to Spago and take home 10 pizzas. One day, I said, “Johnny, are you having a party?” He said, “No, I put them in my freezer and then pop them in the oven for dinner.” I thought, How can you do that to my pizza? Then I tried it — it wasn’t bad. I met people from Gelson’s, a supermarket chain, and we built frozen pizzas into a multimillion-dollar business before selling to ConAgra. We later bought back the license and now work with a new partner.

Licensing and cafés cost me a lot of money and time. In the ’80s, I hired somebody from Harvard Business School who made a business model and spreadsheets for everything. He kept saying, “In three years, we’re going to be a billion-dollar company.” Suddenly, we had an office, which cost $700,000 a year, before we had business. I couldn’t sleep for six months, because I wasn’t adhering to my principle: Make more money than you spend. So, I took back control and focused our efforts on Wolfgang Puck Express, now in more than 80 locations, mostly in airports.

We started catering in the ’80s, but when we did the first post-Oscars Governor’s Ball, in 1995, we got a lot of publicity. Today, we have the fastest-growing catering company in the U.S. This year, I’m sure we’ll do more than $100 million.

Merchandising is where I make the most money for the least effort. We started on QVC, but they weren’t really nice to me, so I said, screw them. We took our products — knives, cookware, and my cookbooks — to the Home Shopping Network. Now, I go to Tampa six times a year to do 16 hours of live television each visit. It’s grueling work, but it’s worthwhile — a $60 million business. To make that with the restaurants, I need 1,200 people. Here, we need 20.

Success for me has always been focusing on the product first, the money second, whether that is a can of soup, a frying pan, or a restaurant. A lot of restaurants make more money than we do for three years and then go out of business. My philosophy is, Grow very slowly. We have 16 restaurants — in places like Las Vegas, Dallas, and Washington. I don’t want to fly from Delhi to Tokyo to Paris if my life isn’t getting better as a result. I did open restaurants in Maui and Vail, because I can bring my kids, have a good time, and still do my job.

I’m really proud that Spago and Chinois are still doing really well 27 years later. I thank my clientele for that, but people are fickle. You have to be careful not to overdo it with some and underdo it with others. If I see a movie star come in, I don’t run to that table. I will stop by as they’re ready to leave. Someone once said to me, “I’ve been watching you. Why did you go to David Beckham‘s and Tom Cruise‘s table last?” Most of the chefs and restaurant people fawn over celebrities. But they just want to be left alone, while the other customers, who are your regulars, will take note — Wolfgang said hello to me before Tom Cruise.

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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved the sale of the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers owned by its parent company to a group led by Chicago businessman Jim Tyree.

The Tyree group offered to pay $5 million for the assets of the Sun-Times Media Group Inc., which includes the Chicago tabloid and more than 50 suburban publications. The investors also plan to assume about $22 million in liabilities.

A major hurdle to closing the deal was cleared Wednesday when leaders of five unions that had rejected contract concessions demanded by Tyree tentatively agreed to contract changes. Rank and file members of four of the unions voted Wednesday night to accept contract changes agreed to by the Chicago Newspaper Guild. Members of the fifth union, representing editorial workers at the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana, were expected to vote Friday.

“We are confident that they will vote in favor of this deal by the end of this week,” Sun-Times attorney David Agay told Judge Christopher Sontchi at Thursday’s hearing.

Agay also said members of 10 of 11 separate trade unions have approved amended contracts, and that the remaining union, which represents a small group of typographical workers, is expected to give its consent soon.

“We’re close; we’re very close, your honor,” he said.

James McDonough, vice president and general counsel for the Sun-Times Media Group, testified that if the sale order were approved, the deal is expected to close by the end of the month. He characterized the remaining conditions to be met prior to closing as “housekeeping matters.”

The Sun-Times Media Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, citing $479 million in assets and $801 million in debt amid plunging advertising revenues that have contributed to about a dozen other media company bankruptcies.

McDonough said some members of the existing Sun-Times management team would stay with the new company after the sale, but that decisions on who will stay and who will go have not been made yet.

Sontchi approved the sale after overruling objections by the Sun-Times’ committee of unsecured creditors and a pension plan for the Communications Workers of America.

Michelle McMahon, an attorney for the pension plan, said in a court filing that by withdrawing from the pension plan, the Sun-Times would trigger a $17 million withdrawal liability, but the company has not proposed a method of payment or offered the pension plan adequate protection.

Attorneys for the Sun-Times argued that the pension plan would still have an unsecured claim after the sale and should not be allowed to improve its position relative to other creditors or the bankruptcy estate.

But McMahon argued that the pension plan would have a direct claim against the purchaser, not a general unsecured claim.

“It’s apparent we’re only going to get pennies on the dollar,” she said.

The committee, meanwhile, expressed concern about adequate enforcement mechanisms in the event that Sun Times Media Group breaches an agreement to operate the Sun-Times as a going concern for at least 180 days after closing.

“If that obligation by the buyer isn’t met, the debtor should have remedies to enforce that obligation,” said Scott Cargill, an attorney for the committee.

The committee also wanted an order directing the Sun-Times to seek a determination on its rights to $24.5 million being held in escrow in connection with the settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging malfeasance by officials with former Sun-Times owner Hollinger International.

Hollinger’s CEO, Lord Conrad Black, was convicted in 2007 of siphoning millions of dollars from the Sun-Times and its other newspaper holdings.

Sontchi said the contract provisions regarding operating the Sun-Times as a going concern for 180 days were sufficiently clear. He also noted that the company was not selling its interests in the settlement escrow.

“I don’t think what time the debtors will get the proceeds from the escrow is relevant for the sale,” the judge said. “I don’t think that’s an issue for today.”

The Sun-Times owes as much as $608 million in back taxes and penalties related to Black’s financial dealings, but Agay noted that the Internal Revenue Service, the company’s largest creditor, did not object to the sale.

Sun-Times board chairman and interim CEO Jeremy Halbreich expressed confidence in Tyree and his investment group’s plans for the media group.

“These new owners will work hard to establish a wonderful, long future for our publications and for our employees, and finally, all of the legacy issues and distractions that have followed and negatively affected our products will be put to rest,” tey said in a statement.

By Randall Chase, AP Business Writer

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Representatives from Dell said, at a Twitter for Brands event hosted by New Media Age in London on Friday, that it has seen tangible uplifts in sales which can be directly attributed to marketing on Twitter. The brand’s Twitter account has driven $3 million in sales since it began operation in 2007, Dell said.

Moonfruit, a website builder, also said Twitter campaigns have helped the brand. Moonfruit said it spent around 10,000 pounds ($16,400) on prizes for the campaign, and that it brought in more than twice that amount in a single month in new subscriptions, reports ClickZ.

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A two-year-old child from the United States became the first person to die of swine flu outside of Mexico Wednesday, as numbers of suspected and confirmed cases continued to rise around the globe.

Quarantine officers monitor arrivals with a thermographic device at Bangkok’s main international airport.

more photos »

As of Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least 112 cases have been confirmed worldwide.

According to the WHO’s figures, the number of deaths from the virus was seven in Mexico. But with the U.S. death — confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — the number rises to eight.

The world body did not immediately provide a breakdown for the additional cases that had been substantiated through lab tests Wednesday. Nor was it clear whether the U.S. death was part of its updated figure.

The WHO list also does not include 11 additional cases reported by New Zealand health officials, four by Spain, three each by German and Britain, two in Costa Rica and one in Austria.

In the United States, the states of California, Indiana, New York and Texas also were reporting additional cases not confirmed by the CDC.

Mexico said the virus is suspected of being behind 159 deaths and more than 2,500 illnesses. Those figures are being investigated.

The world body will next update its figures Wednesday afternoon.

For now, the WHO figures still break down as follows: 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States; 26 in Mexico (including seven deaths); six in Canada; three in New Zealand; and two each in Spain, the United Kingdom and Israel.

But, including figures from local governments, these are the outbreaks — confirmed and suspected — so far:

AUSTRALIA

Cases: None confirmed, but 91 cases were being investigated Wednesday morning, the country’s health department said.

AUSTRIA

Cases: One. A 28-year-old woman is doing well and recovering after contracting swine flu, the Austrian Health Ministry said.

CANADA

Cases: Six mild cases

Measures: Issued a travel health notice, saying its public health agency was “tracking clusters of severe respiratory illness with deaths in Mexico.” Tell us what you think about the swine flu outbreak

CHINA

Cases: None

Measures: Banned pork imports from Mexico, and from California, Kansas and Texas in the United States.

COSTA RICA

Cases: Two. A 21-year-old woman who returned from Mexico on Saturday tested positive, the Costa Rican health ministry said. Swine flu also has been diagnosed in a 30-year-old man, said ministry spokesman Roy Alvarada. Neither case is on the WHO list.

GERMANY

Cases: Three. None of the cases has resulted in deaths, said the Robert Koch Institute — Germany’s disease control center. The positive tests were not included in the WHO tally.

The German cases were: a 22-year-old woman in Hamburg who displayed flu-like symptoms after a trip to Mexico; a man in his late 30s being treated in the city of Regensburg in the southern state of Bavaria; and a 37-year-old woman in Bavaria who also had traveled to Mexico.

INDIA

Cases: None Watch how public health officials grade phases of pandemic alerts »

Measures: Indian health officials advised citizens to postpone their non-essential travel to the swine flu-hit regions.

Stepped up surveillance at ports and airports.

States asked to review their preparedness.

INDONESIA

Cases: None

Measures: Increased surveillance; testing the temperatures of travelers flying into the country.

ISRAEL

Cases: Two. Both men recently returned from Mexico.

The 5-year-old niece of one of the men was suspected of having the flu and was undergoing hospital treatment.

Measures: The Health Ministry has not issued special instructions to the public, nor adopted measures for monitoring those returning from Mexico.

The country is calling the outbreak “Mexico flu” so that citizens do not have to pronounce the name of an animal considered impure in Judaism and Islam. Watch efforts in Mexico to prevent spread of the virus »

JAPAN

Cases: None

Measures: The foreign ministry suspended visa waivers for visitors from Mexico.

Airport officials are checking passengers before they disembark.

KENYA

Cases: None

Measures: Screening passengers from Europe and the Americas at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

Government encourages Kenyans to defer traveling to Mexico.

Kenya set up 26 screening centers to test people for avian flu following that outbreak a few years ago, and will also use the centers for swine flu testing.

MEXICO

Cases: 159 deaths and more than 2,500 infections are thought to have been caused by swine flu, said Jose Angel Cordova, Mexico’s health secretary.

Only 26 cases — 19 infections and seven deaths — have been confirmed by laboratory tests in Mexico and reported to the World Health Organization. iReport.com: Do you think we should be worried about swine flu?

Measures: Mexico City has closed its schools and universities until further notice. It has also ordered restaurants only to serve takeaway meals, so customers do not congregate. In addition, bars, clubs, movie theaters, pool halls, gyms, sport centers and convention halls have been told to close until May 5.

Troops passed out 4 million filter masks in the city of 20 million residents.

Officials are considering shutting down the bus and subway systems.

Citizens are asked to avoid large crowds, refrain from kissing, and stay at least six feet from one another.

The World Bank is offering $205 million to deal with the outbreak.

NEW ZEALAND

Cases: 14. All inflected were part of a study group from Auckland’s Rangitoto College who returned to New Zealand from Mexico over the weekend.

Three people tested positive for the swine flu virus, and those cases were confirmed by the WHO.

Because the rest of the group exhibited similar symptoms, and all of them returned positive result for Influenza A — the general category of strains that includes the H1N1 swine flu — the health ministry said it was assuming that everyone who traveled with the Rangitoto College group has swine flu.

Measures: New Zealanders who traveled to Mexico or North America in the past two weeks are asked to get in touch with health officials if they have flu-like symptoms.

RUSSIA

Cases: None

Measures: Banned all meat imports from Mexico and the southern United States.

Announced it will screen incoming passengers from those two countries by taking their temperatures.

Set up a government commission to plan response, and advised citizens against traveling to Mexico.

SOUTH KOREA

Cases: A 51-year-old woman, who recently returned from Mexico, tested positive for type-A influenza. Tests are being conducted to see whether the influenza is of the swine flu strain. The woman has been quarantined.

Measures: Suspended pork imports from Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Stepped up inspections of passengers returning from affected areas.

Took steps to double its stockpile of Tamiflu anti-viral medicine — enough to treat about 5 million people, or 10 percent of the country’s population.

SPAIN

Cases: Four cases confirmed and 59 others suspected — many of whom had recently traveled to Mexico, the health ministry said. None were in serious condition.

Measures: The government is trying to reach passengers who were on flights with people suspected or confirmed with the flu.

THAILAND

Cases: None.

Measures: Airport officials are keeping a closer eye on passengers arriving from Mexico.

The health ministry is calling the virus “the flu that has caused an outbreak in Mexico,” so that the public does not confuse “swine flu” with “bird flu.” The ministry also said it did not want to hurt the pork industry.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Cases: None

Measures: The ministry of health issued a circular, asking doctors to be prepared to deal with any potential swine flu cases.

UNITED KINGDOM

Cases: Two confirmed, in Scotland. The patients are recovering.

Measures: The Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to Mexico.

UNITED STATES

Cases: 64 confirmed by the CDC — 10 in California; six in Texas; two in Kansas; one in Ohio; and 45 in New York.

It is unclear whether the 64 includes the toddler in Texas whose death the CDC’s acting director reported Wednesday morning. In addition, health officials in California, Indiana and New York reported other cases that the CDC had not yet added to its list late Tuesday.

Among the new cases not included in the CDC figures:

A Nassau County, New York, resident tested positive for swine flu, the county health department said Tuesday night. The resident is “associated” with the St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens, where at least 28 of the United States’ 64 confirmed cases were reported after several students returned from a trip to Cancun, Mexico. The Nassau County information was not included in a CDC tally released at 11 p.m. Tuesday.

A college student in Indiana tested positive for swine flu and is recovering, state health officials said. They attributed the test confirmation to the CDC. The case has not yet been included in CDC’s latest figures.

California’s public health department confirmed 11 swine flu cases — one more than CDC figures.

CDC: Swine flu viruses in U.S. and Mexico match

U.S. health experts also are concerned because more than 1,000 people have fallen ill in Mexico City in a short period of time.

“This situation has been developing quickly,” said acting CDC director Richard Besser. “This is something we are worried about.”

New York health officials announced Friday they are testing about 75 students at a Queens school for swine flu after the students exhibited flu-like symptoms this week.

A team of state health department doctors and staff went to the St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens on Thursday after the students reported cough, fever, sore throat, aches and pains.

There have been no confirmed cases of swine flu there. The tests results are expected as early as Saturday.

Of the 14 Mexican samples tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seven were identical to the swine flu virus found in Texas and Southern California, Besser said at a news conference.

An eighth U.S. case was reported Friday. All of the eight U.S. patients have recovered, Besser said. Watch for more on the U.S. cases »

As a precaution to avoid further contamination, schools and universities in Mexico City and the state of Mexico were closed Friday, said the national health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos. He said the schools may remain closed for a while.

Sixty-eight people have died in Mexico City, Cordova said at a news conference. More than 1,000 other people have gotten sick, he said.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon canceled a trip Friday to northern Mexico so he could remain in Mexico City to monitor the situation, the state-run Notimex news agency reported. Calderon met with his Cabinet on Thursday night to discuss the outbreak.

Six of the U.S. cases were found in California, and two in Texas, near San Antonio, CDC officials said.

The Public Health Agency of Canada issued a respiratory alert for Mexico on Wednesday, recommending that health providers “actively look for cases” in Canada, particularly in people who’ve returned from Mexico within the last two weeks.

An alert issued Friday by the International SOS medical and consulting company said more than 130 cases of a severe respiratory illness have been detected in south and central Mexico, some of which are due to influenza.

“Public health officials in Mexico began actively looking for cases of respiratory illness upon noticing that the seasonal peak of influenza extended into April, when cases usually decline in number,” the medical alert said. “They found two outbreaks of illness — one centered around Distrito Federal (Mexico City), involving about 120 cases with 13 deaths. The other is in San Luis Potosi, with 14 cases and four deaths.”

Authorities also detected one death in Oaxaca, in the south, and two in Baja California Norte, near San Diego, California.

There was no indication why the International SOS tallies did not match the Mexican health secretary’s figures.

The majority of cases are occurring in adults between 25 and 44 years of age.

The CDC first reported Tuesday that two California children in the San Diego area were infected with a virus called swine influenza A H1N1, whose combination of genes had not been seen before in flu viruses in humans or pigs.

The first two cases were picked up through an influenza monitoring program, with stations in San Diego and El Paso, Texas. The program monitors strains and tries to detect new ones before they spread, the CDC said. Other cases emerged through routine and expanded surveillance.

The human influenza vaccine’s ability to protect against the new swine flu strain is unknown, and studies are ongoing, Schuchat said. There is no danger of contracting the virus from eating pork products, she said.

The new virus has genes from North American swine and avian influenza, human influenza, and swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe, said Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC’s Influenza Division.

The new strain of swine flu has resisted some antiviral drugs.

The CDC is working with health officials in California and Texas and expects to find more cases, Schuchat said.

A pandemic is defined as: a new virus to which everybody is susceptible; the ability to readily spread from person to person; and the capability of causing significant disease in humans, said Dr. Jay Steinberg, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta. The new strain of swine flu meets only one of the criteria: novelty.

History indicates that flu pandemics tend to occur once every 20 years or so, so we’re due for one, Steinberg said.

“I can say with 100 percent confidence that a pandemic of a new flu strain will spread in humans,” he said. “What I can’t say is when it will occur.”  Swine Flu Video

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[Related content: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, hedge funds, financial crisis, rich]

By Forbes.comThe world has become a wealth wasteland.

Like the rest of us, the richest people in the world have endured a financial disaster over the past year. Today there are 793 people on our list of the world’s billionaires, a 30% decline from a year ago.

Of the 1,125 billionaires who made last year’s ranking, 373 fell off the list — 355 saw declining fortunes, and 18 died. There are 38 newcomers plus three moguls who returned to the list after regaining their 10-figure fortunes. It is the first time since 2003 that the world has had a net loss in the number of billionaires.

The world’s richest are also a lot poorer. The collective net worth of this year’s 793 billionaires is $2.4 trillion, down $2 trillion from the total wealth of last year’s 1,125 billionaires. The average net worth of those on the list fell 23% to $3 billion. The last time the average was that low was in 2003.

Warren Buffett

Carlos Slim Helú

Microsoft’s Bill Gates lost $18 billion but regained his title as the world’s richest person. Warren Buffett, last year’s No. 1, saw his fortune decline $25 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, news, msgs) fell 40% in 12 months, but he still managed to slip just one spot, to No. 2. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helú, No. 2 a year ago, also lost $25 billion and dropped to No. 3.

 

It was hard to avoid the carnage — in stocks, in commodities, in real estate, in technology and elsewhere. Even people running profitable businesses were hammered by frozen credit markets, weak consumer spending or declining currencies.

• Billionaire playgrounds: Where the world’s superrich go for fun

 

The biggest loser in the world this year, by dollars, was last year’s biggest gainer. India’s Anil Ambani lost $32 billion — 76% of his fortune — as shares of his Reliance Communications, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital all collapsed.

Ambani is one of 24 Indian billionaires, all but one of whom are poorer than a year ago. An additional 29 Indians lost their billionaire status entirely as India’s stock market tumbled 44% in the past year and the Indian rupee depreciated 18% against the dollar. It is no longer the top spot in Asia for billionaires, ceding that title to China, which has 28.

Russia became the epicenter of the world’s commodity bust, dropping 55 billionaires — two-thirds of its 2008 crop. Among them: Dmitry Pumpyansky, an industrialist from the resource-rich Ural Mountain region, who lost $5 billion as shares of his pipe producer, TMK, sank 84%. Also gone is Vasily Anisimov, the father of Anna Anisimova, the Paris Hilton of Moscow. Anisimov lost $3.2 billion as the value of his Metalloinvest, one of Russia’s largest ore mining and processing companies, fell along with his real-estate holdings.

Twelve months ago Moscow overtook New York as the billionaire capital of the world, with 74 tycoons to New York’s 71. Today there are 27 in Moscow and 55 in New York.

After slipping in recent years, the U.S. is regaining its dominance as a repository of wealth. Americans account for 44% of the money and 45% of the list’s slots, up 7 and 3 percentage points, respectively, from last year. Still, the U.S. has 110 fewer billionaires than it did a year ago.

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Healthy dieting is possible, but anyone who contemplates losing some weight should concentrate on the planning so they do not end up feeling awful for some time.  Healthy dieting is possible with advice from the experts on health and nutrition.  Some people decide they need to lose some weight, and they often want to accomplish their goals quickly.  Some people intent on losing weight are intent on dieting and not on healthy dieting.  Some of these people end up starving themselves, and they often fail quickly as they return to the bad habits that put the pounds on in the first place.

Healthy dieting probably requires losing some weight over an extended period of time rather than in a very short period of time.  The person intent on healthy dieting will probably want to eat the most nutritious foods.  These nutritious foods usually include a balance of protein, fat, fruits and vegetables.  Healthy dieting should include plenty of fruits and vegetables even if the person involved does not like these food groups.  Many people intent on healthy dieting will have to consume some foods that they do not like, and they will have to eliminate some foods that they crave.

Healthy Dieting Can Help Millions Of People

Many people around the world are overweight and losing the excess pounds will make them feel better.  Many families have several members who are overweight, and sometimes it is a good idea for the whole family to diet together.  Once the family uses healthy dieting strategies to lose some weight, it will be a great idea to practice healthy eating every day of the year.  Many families can start their healthy dieting program by eliminating drinks that have too many calories.  Some soft drinks have many empty calories that can add pounds quickly.  Alcoholic drinks can also add many empty calories.  Drinking plenty of water in place of sugary drinks can be helpful to those looking for a healthy way to lose weight.

Many people can eat their favorite foods and lose some weight.  Some people eat nutritious food, but they eat too much of it.  Cutting down on portion sizes can often be a great way of healthy dieting.  People might want to eat less but eat more often to make sure that they do not have the cravings that lead them to fail at dieting.  Sometimes people cheat because they leave too much time between meals.  People might eliminate certain foods from their diets in order to

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