9 times as much in 1985 according to a U

BEIJING (Reuters) - A woman suspected of being infected with bird flu has died in Beijing, the local health bureau said on Tuesday of what would be the first bird flu death in the country in almost a year World ChinaThe woman died on Monday Her age was not known, Xinhua news agency said. There were no other details."The report is true, but there are no details so far," said Zhang Jianshu, a spokesman with the publicity office of the Beijing Health Bureau, told Reuters by telephone.The World Health Organisation's China office was not immediately able to provide comment.Since the H5N1 virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003, it has killed more than 200 people in a dozen countries, according to the World Health Organization.Experts fear the constantly mutating virus could change into a form easily transmitted from person to person and potentially kill millions of people worldwide.The last known reported fatality in China was in February last year when a 44-year-old woman died in the southern province of Guangdong.A five-year-old has been infected with bird flu in neighboring Vietnam, the first human case reported in the country this year, Vietnam's state-run television said on Tuesday.(Reporting by Ian Ransom and Yu Le; Editing by Nick Macfie) World China. Despite the less-than-inspired performance by your Houston Texans this past Sunday, the team was able to come out with a victory.Considering the way this season has gone, let's not complain about the aesthetics of the win and just accept it as is. Remember, these were the same Rams that only a few weeks ago nearly knocked off the then 8-0 Saints, so maybe they're not as bad as their record shows (or, more accurately, maybe they're occasionally capable of playing inspired football).Still, a win is a win, and the Texans' playoff aspirations remain ever so slightly alive.Within last week's playoff breakdown, I described those aspirations as "Ray Liotta at the end of Hannibal" alive. After the flurry of activity this weekend, I'm upgrading them slightly to Westley from The Princess Bride mostly dead and in need of a chocolate-covered miracle, but with a sliver of hope.A lot of our rooting interests were victorious in Week 15, but, sadly, the most critical ones were not.In accordance with our previous breakdowns, let's go division by division.Remember, our major premise in all of this is that the Texans win out. Without that premise, we might as well give up on the season and start making baseless predictions about the future of the franchise (that may or may not be a shameless plug for an upcoming piece). The AFC East was almost the most generous division during this holiday season, but there are a few things they could have done better.Losses by the Jets and Dolphins would seem to have improved our outlook significantly, but a victory by the Dolphins would have been more useful.Remember that according to our premise, the Texans will beat the Dolphins this weekend, and therefore will own the tiebreaker, so a victory over the Titans would have eliminated Tennessee and removed one more hurdle from our path.The Jets' loss, however, was quite nice.We needed them to finish 1-2 over the last three games, as they own the tiebreaker over Houston thanks to the beat down they gave us in Week One. The game against the Falcons was probably their most winnable game, as they have the Colts and Bengals coming up. By losing this game, we have bought ourselves a little bit of cushion, as the Colts may be resting a few guys this weekend and Cincinnati will likely be playing for playoff positioning in Week 17.By that same rationale, however, the Patriots will also likely be playing for positioning, thus making our Week 17 matchup more difficult, but that's a different discussion. Fortunately, right now, we're just assuming that the Texans are winning that game against New England (see how I got around that).As friendly as the AFC East was, however, the AFC North was playing the role of the Grinch.Chicago could have really helped us out if they had beaten Baltimore, but instead they made like Santa Claus and just gave it away. I mean, Joe Flacco's yards-per-attempt was higher than Jay Cutler's quarterback rating.If Baltimore loses out, we would beat them based on record. You know, if the Bad News Bears played football.Now, let's shift to the AFC South.Again, Houston's horrible divisional play this season (as well as Kris Brown's craptastic field goal kicking) has put them on the wrong side of all the tiebreakers.Jacksonville's late game loss against Indianapolis was helpful and we now only need them to lose one of their remaining games: at New England or at Cleveland. Obviously, New England provides us the best hope here.Tennessee, as mentioned before, would have really helped us had they fallen in overtime on Sunday, but instead, we find ourselves tied with two games left.They face a Chargers team this Friday who is as hot as Marissa Miller and who is still fighting for that first-round bye. A loss there finally kills the Titans' season. That team is like the Lernean Hydra where when you cut off one head, two more grow in it's place.

Or if you're not in to Greek mythology, they're like that guy with the long hair in the first Die Hard.If both teams cooperate next weekend, though, we can check them off the to-do list.Lastly, the AFC West was truly feeling the holiday spirit when the Raiders scored a late touchdown to beat the Broncos on Sunday.While not as talked about as the Cowboy's struggles, a late season collapse by the Broncos has been nearly as reliable in recent years.This years, might the Texans be beneficiariesIn last week's breakdown, I detailed the convoluted tiebreaker that could potentially occur if the Texans and Broncos ended up with identical records. I won't rehash that now, but the takeaway was pretty simple: under no scenario can the Texans take the tiebreaker from the Broncos.As such, the Broncos need to lose out in order for the Texans to overtake them for the Wild Card. Sunday's loss was a good start and with a game coming up against Philadelphia this weekend (who still has a shot at a first-round bye and therefore will be playing hard), they stand a good chance entering the final weekend at 8-7.At that point the Texans would need them to lose to Kansas City on the final weekend.So there you have it.While the Texans playoff hopes are still dim, they have not yet been extinguished. To over simplify, this weekend we need to root for Pittsburgh to beat Baltimore, New England to beat Jacksonville, San Diego to beat Tennessee, and Philadelphia to beat Denver.All of those are decent bets.Then all we need is for either Oakland or Kansas City to pull off upsets and we'll be cruising towards the playoffs.Those are less-than-decent bets.Again, though, we have to remember that pesky premise: The Texans must win out.Although I promised myself I wouldn't do this and let's face it, nothing good can come of it I can't help but wonder what might have been had we been able to score a late one-yard touchdown or a fourth-quarter field goal.While we must remember that all of those scores would have only tied their respective games, just a single additional victory earlier this season would have given us much more control over our own playoff destiny.Alas, we are where we are and we as fans must hope for the final two weeks to play themselves out such that the city of Houston can have a taste of the playoffs for the first time since the 1993 season.I will be away on a ski trip next week and will therefore be unable to update the playoff scenarios, but let's just hope that there are scenarios that require updating.Happy holidays to all.. (Reuters) - Chinese officials have warned that the country faces rising social unrest as growth slows and unemployment rises World ChinaChina is secretive with data about unrest. The most recent public official estimate of the number of "mass incidents" an official euphemism for riots, protests and demonstrations said there were 23,000 in 2006.Here are some factors that could stoke protests, strikes and demonstrations in 2009, when China also passes several politically sensitive anniversaries. JOBLESSNESS - The government is worried about rising joblessness among rural migrants who came from the countryside to factories and cities. Many thousands of factories have shut down in southern and eastern China since the global financial crisis battered export orders.

Lay-offs have brought protests over unpaid wages. STUDENTS - Unemployment could rise among young people as more university and college graduates than ever before compete for scarce jobs. More than 7 million new and recent graduates will seek jobs in 2009, but the government target for GDP growth would create only 8 million jobs for the whole country, according to Xinhua reporter Huang Huo, quoted in state-run Outlook Magazine. GROWING RICH-POOR GAP - The Chinese countryside fell behind as soaring growth from the 1980s concentrated wealth and access to public services in urban areas. In 2007, urban Chinese earned 3.3 times as much as people in the countryside, up from 1.9 times as much in 1985, according to a U.N. report. RURAL LAND DISPUTES - China initiated reforms last year to allow farmers to transfer land-use rights. Their potential misuse by local governments reliant on illegal land seizures for income could stoke discontent. CORRUPTION - Public anger over bribery and corruption among local government officials is likely to continue to fuel discontent.