The vicious new strain of swine flu continued its rampage across the United States, taking its first U.S. life, that of a toddler from Texas. The 2-year-old is the first American and first person outside of Mexico to die. “A child has died from the H1N1 virus,” Dr. Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, told CNN Wednesday. “As a parent and a pediatrician, my heart goes out to the family.” Read the rest.

Former African leader gets $5 million. Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana, won $5 million dollars for helping to promote good leadership in Africa.  The award was connected to the Ibrahim Prize, the single most valuable prize in the world. The prize was created by Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim. During a ceremony, Mogae, who stepped down in April, was praised for actively fighting the AIDS epidemic in his nation. “President Mogae’s outstanding leadership has ensured Botswana’s continued stability and prosperity in the face of an HIV/AIDS pandemic, which threatened the future of his country and people,” former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said.  ”I did not create the democracy in my country. I consolidated it and deepened it by practiced, accountable governance, respect of the rule of law, independence of the courts, respect for human rights, including women’s rights,” he told the BBC.  Botswana was the first country in sub-Saharan African to provide free anti-retroviral drugs to those affected by AIDS and HIV. In addition, Botswana’s residents have the highest average pay on the continent, and the nation is considered by many as being the least corrupt country, despite being the largest diamond producer in the world, according to Transparency International. In addition to the $5 mil, Mogae, age 69, gets $200,000 every year for the rest of his life.

Mexican prison riot leaves 21 dead. A riot in a Mexican prison left 21 dead Monday, reports CNN. The fight, which occurred in Reynosa, was between two groups of inmates and took place early in the morning. Twelve prisoners were also injured in the incident, but their condition is unknown. State authorities are still looking into the cause of the riot, but they did suspend the prison director and the guards. It took both federal and state police, as well as some army troops, to take control of the prison after the violence. The forces also had to surround the outside of the institution to control the worried and apprehensive relatives who were outside kicking the gates and demanding to be given information. No word yet on what might have started the riot. A riot at La Mesa prison in Tijuana last month killed 23 people, reports the news service. That violence was sparked by angry prisoners who said guards were not giving them food and water, a charge that prison officials deny.

Thousands of Mexicans hit the streets to protest crime. Mexicans, sick and tired of the huge wave of murders and kidnappings in t heir country, took to the streets Saturday demanding the government do something about the violence, which they say is out of control. More than 50,000 people (according to government estimates) wearing white and carrying candles and pictures of kidnapped loved ones, marched through the streets of Mexico City . Thousands also took part in protests around the nation as well. During his time in office, President Felipe Calderon has put crime fighting first but, other than the arrest of several prominent drug dealers, not much has improved, reports CNN.  Big drug cartels have been fighting one another for trafficking routes. Just in the state of Chihuahua , there have been more than 800 murders this year – which is twice as much as last year during this time. Last week a dozen headless bodies were found near Cancun . One family of protesters had not heard from their 24-year-old daughter, Monica Alejandrina Ramirez, since she was kidnapped in 2004. “The most frustrating thing has been the indolence of many of the authorities, their insensitivity. I have often asked myself, why? Why me? Why my daughter?” said Ramirez’s father. In many towns, the police forces are struggling, some complaining that they have to share guns. And many officers have resigned after witnessing a fellow officer murdered in front of their homes.

President says the killings are unavoidable in fight against drug dealers
More Mexican drug traffickers are killing one another, a fact, the nation’s president says, signals success in the war against drugs. “We are truly hitting crime’s operative structure. This is making it so that the gangs are fighting among themselves, and that is causing the deaths that are occurring in the country,” President Felipe Calderon told CNN. On Monday alone, suspected drug dealers killed 21 people in the state of Chihuahua, which is known as a hotspot. Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence, reports the news service. A top police official and four other officers died this month in a raid. Calderon believes that the violence is necessary to win the war on drugs. “It will cost human lives because we have decided to fight to rescue our country. That unfortunately will mean that some Mexicans will lose their lives,” he said. The nation has long struggled with rampant drug trafficking; Mexico has seized more money and more cocaine from cartels than any other nation and every year about 300 tons of cocaine makes its way across the border to the United States.

Nigerian oil field goes back to work after attack
Six days after being attacked by Nigerian militants, an oil field in the country continues production, reports the BBC. The Bongo oil field, run by energy company Royal Duthch Shell, produces a 10th of the oil coming out of the African nation. “We’re up and running on Bonga,” a spokesman for the company said. This comes after members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (who claimed responsibility on the recent attack) called a ceasefire, at the urging of community elders, set to begin from midnight on Tuesday until further notice.

Eating a big breakfast could help you slim down

Women who eat half of their daily calories first thing in the morning lose more weight in the long term than those who start the day with a small breakfast, a new study found And they are also less likely to pile the pounds back on, too. “A very low carbohydrate diet exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism,” said Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas, Venezuela, who led the study. “After a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity.” It is thought that eating a meal packed with protein and carbohydrates helps cut cravings for sweet or starchy foods, and boosts the metabolism. Jakubowicz and a team at Virginia Commonwealth University studied 94 obese, inactive women and found that low-carb dieters initially lost more weight. The strict low-carb diet caused an average weight loss of 28 pounds; the big-breakfast version cut 23 pounds. However, after eight months, the strict dieters had regained 18 pounds. The big-breakfast eaters continued to drop weight, losing another 16.5 pounds.

Tainted tomatoes source narrowed down
Federal health officials think they have narrowed down where the tainted tomatoes that have made people sick nationwide might have come from. U.S. investigators said on Friday that by all indications, the Salmonella that caused 228 people in 23 states to become ill is linked to tomatoes from Mexico and South and Central Florida. David Acheson, associate commissioner for foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on a conference call that nine people who became ill with Salmonella had eaten at two different outlets of the same restaurant chain. He declined to name the chain or the location of the restaurants. “That represents a small cluster within this outbreak,” he said. The outbreak has been disastrous for the U.S. tomato industry, which produced $1.28 billion of the fruit last year. The FDA has linked the outbreak to raw round, plum and Roma tomatoes, and has issued a list of states and countries whose tomatoes are not associated with the outbreak. California, Georgia, New York, Canada, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic are among tomato producers on the safe list. The FDA also has cleared counties in North Florida, whose tomatoes were not widely available at the time of the outbreak. The FDA said investigators were focusing on South and Central Florida and Mexico because they were the biggest producers at the time. The Mexican government says its tomatoes are being unjustly targeted and notes that the uncommon Salmonella Saintpaul bacteria identified in the outbreak has never been found in Mexico.