News Makers

President Arias down with H1N1 flu

Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has contracted swine flu, becoming the world's first known leader to have fallen ill with the virus. "The pandemic doesn't discriminate," Arias said in a statement on Tuesday. "I am one more case in the country, and I am subject to the same recommendations that the health authorities have established for all the population."

The 67-year-old's brother and chief of staff, Rodrigo Arias, earlier told a shocked nation that the president must remain isolated at home for at least a week, but will not delegate power during his absence.