Nation briefs 4/14/06

Disney reopens 'Mission: Space' after tourist death

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Walt Disney World reopened its "Mission: Space" attraction Thursday, a day after a woman who became ill after leaving the ride died at a hospital. The Epcot Center ride spins riders in a centrifuge that subjects them to twice the normal force of gravity. It has motion sickness bags and signs warning people with heart, back and neck problems not to board it. The 49-year-old German woman who died Wednesday had reported dizziness and nausea after stepping off the ride Tuesday, Disney officials said. Disney had told state officials that the woman may have had high blood pressure and other health problems. A worker from the state Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection monitored the testing and said the ride didn't appear "to be acting abnormal in any way," said Terence McElroy, a spokesman for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees the bureau.

Bird flu scientists look north for first U.S. case

WASHINGTON -- In about three weeks, waterfowl, shorebirds and songbirds will start arriving in the Alaska Peninsula, the Yukon Delta and the westernmost Aleutian Islands to begin mating. That's when and where government scientists expect the first case of bird flu to show up in the Unites States. To screen the birds, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Alaska's Fish and Game Department are setting up more than 50 backcountry camps.

-- From wire reports