New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, recently announced a major makeover of one of New York City’s most famous landmarks, Times Square, and area which is famous for its traffic jams.

“It’s good for traffic, it’s good for businesses and we think it is going to be great deal of fun,” city transport commissioner Janet Sadik-Khan said last week.

All cars are going to be barred between 42nd and 47th streets at Times Square and 33rd and 35th Streets at Herald Square. New York City officials say the move will reduce pollution and pedestrian accidents and ease traffic flow in the area.

The new Swine Flu is just like Bird Flu and SARS – some scary stuff. Now that there are 20 confirmed cases in the United States, a public health emergency has been declared.  New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that eight students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens were confirmed to be infected with the swine flu, while another 100 students reported flu-like symptoms at the school, which will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

This strain of swine flu strain, which is a combination of pig, bird and human strains, has no vaccine. However, who have stressed the importance of individual care and good hygiene, have also extended more resources into medical surveillance and prevention.

“Flu viruses are very unpredictable. Outbreak of infectious diseases are very unpredicatable,” Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. “We view this more as a marathon. We think this will continue to spread but we are taking aggresive action.”