Brazil's Trade Surplus Is Biggest Ever Brazil racked up its biggest trade surplus in history last year, but the country's export boom of everything from soybeans to automobiles is expected to ease in 2005.
Thailand bird flu deaths increase A girl has died of bird flu in Thailand, the 11th confirmed victim of the disease this year. Kanda Srileung-On died in the north of the country, hours after testing positive for the virus, apparently caught from infected chickens.