The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Rome - Pope John Paul II is recovering so well from surgery to ease breathing problems that he is likely to return to the Vatican in time for services leading up to Catholicism's holiest week of the year, officials said Monday. Papal spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the Pope's level of involvement in Holy Week, which begins on March 20 with Palm Sunday and ends with Easter Sunday services on March 27, will depend on how he feels at the time. Hanoi - A Vietnamese nurse who tended a patient with bird flu has caught the virus himself, raising fears that human-to-human transmission has affected a health-care provider for the first time. It's unclear if the nurse caught the avian influenza virus from the patient or by other means. The patient caught the virus after drinking raw duck blood last month. Doctors have been warning that the world is overdue for a major influenza pandemic that could kill millions. They fear that a virus found in animal populations, such as bird flu, will mutate with elements of a human flu virus and spread. Damascus - Syrian forces will complete a pullback to eastern Lebanon by the end of March, the leaders of Syria and Lebanon announced Monday. About 30,000 anti-Syria demonstrators gathered in Beirut's Martyrs' Square Monday, chanting "Syria Out." Anti-Syrian sentiment has grown since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
