Ukraine: Flu scare

KIEV — Urging its citizens not to panic, Ukraine on Monday closed the nation's schools for a week to avoid the spread of swine flu and suggested that nightclubs, cinemas and food markets in the west also shut down.

The World Health Organization said Monday there was no evidence that Ukraine had a bad outbreak of swine flu but at the government's request it had sent a health team there to help the country cope.

Ukraine's Health Ministry said Monday that 70 people in the nation of 40 million have died of flu, but did not say how many of those deaths were related to swine flu. Worldwide, outbreaks of regular seasonal flu claim 50,000 lives each year. Nevertheless, all schools have been closed for a week across Ukraine, even in the capital, Kiev, where there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu.

Australia: Search at sea

SYDNEY — Planes and ships searching a remote patch of the Indian Ocean found no signs today of additional survivors from the sinking of a suspected asylum-seeker boat. Eleven people were believed missing, while 27 were rescued.

Merchant ships that responded to distress calls from the stricken vessel plucked dozens from the sea on Monday, a day after it went down. Some of the survivors swam to a life raft dropped by an Australian military plane, officials said. One person taken aboard a rescue vessel died. Australian Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said a Japanese fishing vessel would join the search today.

Myanmar: Senior contact

YANGON — Two senior U.S. officials headed Tuesday to Myanmar for the highest-level visit in more than a decade and talks billed as a key pivot in Washington's longtime stance of shunning the junta.

Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, and his deputy Scot Marciel were scheduled to meet senior Myanmar junta officials and detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi during their two-day visit, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Mei said. The trip is part of a new U.S. policy that reverses the Bush administration's isolation of Myanmar in favor of direct, high-level talks with a country that has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Spain: Climate talks

BARCELONA — As China's actions to curb gas emissions garnered praise at U.N. climate talks, the United States came under renewed pressure to come up with a plan to cut pollution blamed for hastening global warming.