The World Health Organization this morning formally declared that swine flu had reached the level of a full-blown pandemic, moving the viral outbreaks to phase 6 on the pandemic alert scale.

WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan met with flu experts at 6 a.m. ET today in Geneva to discuss the spread of the novel virus, and since Wednesday the escalation to the highest level of pandemic alert had been widely anticipated.

The move reflects the continued spread of the virus around the globe, despite quarantines, school closings and other measures designed to keep it in check. Swine flu is the first official influenza pandemic in more than 40 years.

However, public health experts say there’s no reason for the public to be more concerned about the virus today than yesterday; indeed, it is unlikely that much will change at all for the general public.

A joint statement issued today by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted that the WHO decision “was expected” and that it “doesn’t change what we have been doing here in the United States to prepare for and respond to this public health challenge.”

Health experts concurred. “From a macro view, the main actions defined for WHO phase 5 are the same as those for phase 6,” said Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “However, individual countries and communities may have conditioned key tactical and operational steps of their response to the WHO phases, so there could be significant local, regional, or national impact. Technically, we have been in phase 6 for some time.”

“When you hear this announcement, and your children are with you, main thing is to reassure kids not really all that much is going to change unless things get more severe,” Dr. Irwin Redlener of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York, told “Good Morning America.”

Other infectious disease experts were quick to point out that the pandemic designation refers to the spread of a disease — not its severity.

What Are The Symptoms Of Swine Flu, And When Do I Need To See A Doctor?

“WHO’s declaration that the H1N1 virus infection is now pandemic in nature merely confirms the obvious that there is community transmission worldwide,” said Dr. Pascal James Imperato, dean of the Graduate Program in Public Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. “A level 6 is only a statement of geographic spread, not a statement defining severity of clinical illness.”

In painstaking detail and heartbreaking prose, a young single mother shared with the world the compelling story of carrying to term a baby she knew was going to die.

Becca Beushausen, seen here as she appeared on MySpace, admitted to lying to thousands of readers of…

Becca Beushausen, seen here as she appeared on MySpace, admitted to lying to thousands of readers of her blog. She claimed she was pregnant with a sick child, but instead posted an image of a doll. Savvy readers compared the image with others of the same doll and realized it was a hoax.

The baby, a girl named April because of the month she was due, was to be born with a rare disorder called holoprosencephaly that would prevent her brain from properly developing, cause her face to be deformed and ultimately result in her early death.

In just a few short months, hundreds of thousands of readers driven to the site from other anti-abortion and religious sites praised the mother for her strength and her devout Christian faith.

At first “B” or “April’s Mom,” the monikers the anonymous blogger used, asked only for her readers’ prayers. And they came in droves; not just from readers caught up in a riveting real life drama, or from Christians who celebrated her story as an anti-abortion parable, but from mothers of sick and dying children who wanted to commiserate and lend their support.

But soon, April’s Mom asked for more than just prayers. She posted a P.O. Box, to which readers could send gifts or money and on the side of the page where there was once only a form for submitting well-prayers emerged a list of advertisements.

Though she described visits with her doctors, plans for her delivery and posted pictures of herself and eventually the baby — who was born weeks late last Sunday and died hours later — none of the story was true.

The hoax was uncovered by the same women who read and commented on the site, littleoneapril.blogspot.com. Once-loyal readers became increasingly suspicious by a lack of information, constantly changing due dates and a planned home delivery.

But it was the photo of baby April Rose, posted for a moment and then taken down, that would unravel the intricate weeks-long lie.

“It wasn’t a photo of a baby at all,” said Elizabeth Russell, a mother and maker of lifelike Reborn Dolls, “It was a doll. I have that same doll.”

“I’ve made that doll enough times that there was no mistaking it. I couldn’t believe what she was trying to pull. It’s outrageous that she would manipulate people like that,” said Russell, a 31-year-old mother of two from Buffalo, N.Y.”

A gaseous hydrogen leak on the space shuttle Endeavour forced NASA to cancel Saturday’s planned launch, the space agency said.

NASA officials postponed Saturday’s scheduled launch of space shuttle Endeavour because of a leak.

NASA halted fueling of the shuttle Saturday morning after detecting the leak, associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the shuttle’s external fuel tank, NASA said. The system is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad.

Shuttle managers will assess the leak and meet at 2 p.m. ET Sunday to discuss what steps to take next, including setting a new launch date, NASA said. They planned a news conference after the meeting, the space agency said.

The earliest the shuttle could be ready to launch now is Wednesday, NASA said, but there is a conflict on that date with the scheduled launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

Endeavour, carrying seven astronauts and a key component for Japan’s Kibo science laboratory, is scheduled for a mission to the International Space Station.

Five spacewalks are planned for the crew after the shuttle docks with the station for a planned 16-day mission.

The Kibo science lab, also called the Japanese Experiment Module, is Japan’s first human space facility, more than 20 years in the making. The bus-sized, 32,000-pound module will be the largest lab at the space station.

Kibo means “hope” in Japanese.

It’s amazing how a huge global phenomenon can begin.

Tetris, the simple puzzle video game, has been addicting players for 25 years.

In 1984, Russian mathematician Alexey Pajitnov was playing with one of his favorite puzzles when he had an inspiration: How about creating a computer version?

Pajitnov wrote the program in his spare time, simplifying the idea to make it easier for those of us who aren’t math geniuses.

He used shapes made of four squares — hence “Tetris,” which comes from the Greek word for four, “Tetra.”

In the game, players must position and stack blocky shapes to fill a grid without leaving spaces in between. Successfully completed sections disappear. The more sections the player completes without reaching the top, the higher the score. The faster players accomplish this, the higher their score.

Steadily, the game worked its way around the world. Millions of people found themselves glued to their computers and game players — hearts racing and screaming in frustration — all over getting a simple horizontal line of digital squares to disappear.

“I would just play it for hours and hours,” said iReporter Joel Vetsch of New Haven, Connecticut, who got addicted to Tetris on a Game Boy when he was 10. “I’m 29 now, and I still love it.”

Vetsch became so obsessed with Tetris that the game even showed up in his dreams.

“I’d go to sleep and in my head I’d see blocks. . .going into each other,” he told CNN. “It was weird.”

More than 125 million Tetris products have been sold, and Guinness World Records’ 2009 Gamers’ Edition book ranked Tetris No. 2 on its list of the top 50 console games of all time, behind Super Mario Kart.

Twenty-five years to the month after Tetris was born, CNN spoke with Pajitnov and Henk Rogers, CEO of Blue Planet Software, the company that manages the exclusive licensing rights to the game.

The two men talked about what makes Tetris so addictive, how they believe the game can help unite the world, and — no joke — why they want a Tetris competition in the Olympics.

CNN: Alexey, I want to start with you. When you first dreamed up this scenario all those years ago, did you ever imagine it would turn into a global phenomenon?

Alexey Pajitnov, Tetris creator: The very first time when my small game started working even without scoring or leveling, I couldn’t stop playing. It’s a really good game, but I [couldn't] imagine that it would be that big.

Henk Rogers, CEO of Blue Planet Software: When I first found it at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1988, I kept on coming back and playing more. And that was a for sure sign that this was going to be a good game.

CNN: There are stories of people going in to work on the weekends just to sit at their computer and play for hours. They even dream the Tetris shapes if they play for too long. Could one of you explain to me why it’s so addictive and what goes on when you play it?

Pajitnov: First of all, it’s a very simple game and it has a really strong creative spirit in it. So instead of destroying something, you kind of build up the profile out of those small pieces and enjoy doing it. And that’s probably the very important addictive factor.

CNN: The simplicity and also the immediate satisfaction — but then immediately it’s time to work for the next one.

Pajitnov: Yes.

CNN: Henk, tell us some of the stunning statistics.

Rogers: Over 70 million products have been sold as a box product, and more recently on the mobile [market] we’re almost reaching 80 million downloads worldwide. Last year 10 percent of all games on mobile phones in this country were Tetris.

CNN: We have some videos of takeoffs — turning buildings into Tetris or human Tetris. Is that great publicity or are you concerned in a legal way, like, “Stop grabbing our name and doing what you want with it?”

Rogers: It’s all flattery. I like it.

CNN: Alexey, you were originally unable to make a penny off of this for a long time. What happened there and how did it ultimately pay out for you?

Pajitnov: Back in the ’80s when I designed the game, the situation with intellectual property was very unclear in Russia. Communism Party didn’t inspire some individual kind of activity. That’s why I decided I granted my rights for Tetris for 10 years to Soviet Union to my computer center. And I didn’t receive anything from this 10 years. But 10 years naturally ended, and I’m fine now. (laughs)

CNN: You all put something into your news release: “We have a vision of the future where people all over the world can meet and become friends without speaking the same language.” You go on to say that people will be “connected through the universal language” of Tetris. Are you guys being sarcastic about that or is that an actual hope?

Rogers: No that’s a real dream for us. Games are a universal language and Tetris breaks all culture, language and age and gender barriers.

CNN: Have you had complaints from people saying that Tetris is a drug, that it’s more addictive, there should be some kind of warning with it?

Pajitnov: It happens to me all the time. People approach me and say, “I spent so much of my college time on Tetris I almost blow my exams.” And I usually ask, “But was it good hours which you spent on Tetris?” And everybody say, “Yes it was really good hours.” So I say, “I not waste it, I gift it to you!”

Rogers: I think that Tetris is the first virtual sport. And we’ll see a Tetris Cup in the future and international competition. Hopefully we’ll be part of the Olympics someday.

CNN: The actual Olympics? The Olympics Olympics?

Rogers: Sure, why limit the Olympics to physical sports? Why not mental sports?

CNN: Wow, that would open up a whole new realm. I know you have a lot of plans for building this. What will we see when we envision the future? Will there be 3-D Tetris? Or will I have goggles and play virtual Tetris?

Rogers: Tetris is the ultimate casual game, so we need to keep it simple. If 3-D takes it out of simple-to-understand games, then it probably won’t go there.

CNN: You want to tell me how much you have made off Tetris over the years?

Rogers: A lot. (laughter)

CNN: Alexey, how about you?

Pajitnov: Yes, I am happy.

CNN: Enough to give Oprah a run for her money?

Pajitnov and Rogers: No, no. (laughter)

Frenchman David Moncoutie delighted the watching spectators with victory in the mountainous seventh and penultimate 157km stage of the Dauphine Libere from Briancon to Saint-Francois-Longchamp on Saturday.

Moncoutie held on to finish first in the mountainous seventh stage of the Dauphine Libere.

Moncoutie was part of an initial breakaway and he attacked again at the foot of the final climb of the day to finish 40 seconds ahead of Dutchman Robert Gesink with Cadel Evans back in third.

Controversial Spaniard Alejandro Valverde remains the overall race leader after finishing fourth, in the same time as Evans, after remaining on the Australian’s wheel throughout the final ascent — despite intense pressure from the Silence-Lotto rider.

The pair, along with third-placed Alberto Contador, stayed together until Tour de France champion Contador lost ground in the final 500 meters, losing 14 seconds to now lie one minute, 18 seconds behind Valverde — who remains just 16 seconds ahead of Evans overall.

Valverde is currently banned from riding in Italy — which means he cannot compete in the Tour de France which enters Italian soil this year — and could still face a worldwide two-year ban if cycling governing body UCI acts upon evidence the Italians claim shows the Spanish rider was implicated in the Operation Puerto doping scandal.

Moncoutie, who also won a stage in the Tour of the Mediterranean this year, told the official race Web site: “This is a prestige win, because it contained famous climbs like the Galibier and the Croix de Fer.

“I won my first professional race in this event 10 years ago, so this was a nice way to celebrate,” added the Cofidis rider.

Sunday’s 146km final stage from Faverges to Grenoble is also mountainous and Evans will still harbor some hopes of overtaking Valverde in what could be a thrilling finish to the race.

Second seed Andy Roddick is forced to retire with an ankle injury during the first set of his Queen’s Club semifinal against fellow-American James Blake, meaning he misses out on a final showdown against British top seed Andy Murray.

Andy Roddick feels his ankle injury before retiring from his semifinal against fellow-American James Blake.

Roddick, who was bidding for a record fifth title at the London grass-court tournament, injured his right ankle when he slipped at the back of the court in the fourth game of the first set.

He eventually called for treatment three games later and resumed only after having his ankle and foot heavily bandaged.

However, Roddick was clearly still in some discomfort as he served in the next game and decided to take the safety-first option with Wimbledon starting in just nine days.

“I’m going to do everything I can to play at Wimbledon,” Roddick told Press Association Sport. “We’re scheduled to get it looked at again on Monday and do some scans on it, then we’ll see where we’re at.

“Initial tests have shown the stability and strength is OK. We’re looking at days, not weeks. My trainer and doctors don’t think anything is torn.”

Blake, beaten in the 2006 Queen’s final by Lleyton Hewitt, admitted he did not take much pleasure from this victory. Speaking after the match, Blake said: “It was unfortunate but Andy is such a great player and he doesn’t want to endanger the injury anymore. He normally moves so well and you could tell this wasn’t the same Andy Roddick.”

Meanwhile, Murray swept into his first-ever Queen’s final with a ruthless 6-2 6-4 win over unseeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Murray is bidding to become the first Briton to win the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event since Bunny Austin in 1938.

The world number three has not dropped a set in four matches and, in reaching his fifth ATP Tour final this year, he also becomes the first British finalist here since Tim Henman in 2002.

“I felt it was a good match. I started well but the second set was very close,” Murray said in a courtside interview after the match. “I’m obviously happy to win in two sets. I was very happy with the way I played all round.

“I didn’t have the easiest draw so it’s been a good week all around and hopefully I can finish it off on Sunday,” added the Scot.

In the other men’s grass-court tournament being played, second seed Novak Djokovic is through to the final in Halle after a 7-6 6-4 victory over Belgian Olivier Rochus.

The Serb will now face unseeded German Tommy Haas, who defeated compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber 2-6 7-6 7-6 in an epic encounter.

Meanwhile, in women’s action, Maria Sharapova crashed out in the semifinals of the Birmingham grass-court event, beaten in straight sets by China’s Li Na.

Russian Sharapova had been bidding for a third victory in the tournament, after winning in both 2004 and 2005, but went out 6-4 6-4 in a match lasting 90 minutes.

Fourth seed Li, the highest-ranked player left in the competition, will face Magdalena Rybarikova in the final, after the 13th-seeded Slovakian beat Indian Sania Mirza 3-6 6-0 6-3.

Before Jada Pinkett Smith took the role of producer and star of TNT’s “HawthoRNe,” she made sure her family was fine with her being away from her mother and wife duties during filming.

Jada Pinkett Smith’s new TV show, “HawthoRNe,” premieres Tuesday on TNT.

Pinkett Smith plays a single mom and a hospital’s chief nurse on the medical show, which debuts Tuesday night on cable’s TNT Network.

“I sat down with kids and my husband and I really asked their permission,” she said. “I said ‘Listen, there was this show I’d love to do and it will be three months that you might not see Mommy a lot.’ And they’re looking at me like ‘Really? What does that mean?’”

It meant that on weekdays Will would get Willow, 8, and Jaden, 11, out of bed each morning, tuck them in at night and take care of them in-between.

“So they get to eat chocolate for breakfast and go to bed whenever they feel like it for those three months while I’m working,” Pinkett Smith said. “So, it works out, and they know that the rest of the year, I’m off.”

While the show is based on a Richmond, Virginia, hospital, it’s produced in a recently closed Inglewood, California, hospital just a few miles from the Smiths’ home.

“The great thing is that my kids do know I’m in town,” she said.

It’s close enough for Will to spend time on the set with Jada while still taking care of the kids.

“He’s an extra in one of the episodes, so just see if you can catch him,” she said. “He’s walking by, doing a drive-by, and we could hardly afford that. It was a very costly walk-by.”

Smith also works as a “ghost producer” helping structure her episodes, she said.

“He’s quite a fantastic story structuralist,” she said. “So right now, I’m learning from him just how to structure a story in a way that speaks to the universal voice and to understand how to hit those human emotional cords that resonate universally, no matter what country you’re from, your economic status.”

Will Smith was also on the set at Paramount Studios last month when daughter Willow taped her TV sitcom debut on Nickelodeon’s “True Jackson, VP.” His role then was stage dad.

Hollywood’s highest paid actor, as ranked by Forbes magazine, sat with the other parents through the day-long rehearsals and taping “like a regular dad,” according to the parent of a cast member.

By the way, Jada reports her daughter came home saying she wanted to do more television acting.

When “HawthoRNe” production ends later this summer, Jada may have to return the “supportive spouse” favor to her husband when he travels to Beijing, China, to work on a “Karate Kid” remake.

Will Smith will produce, with son Jaden playing the lead role, opposite Jackie Chan.

It’s not clear if Jada will seek work as a background extra.

A suicide bomber blew himself up near a gas station in southern Afghanistan, killing 17 people and injuring 20 more, an official said Saturday.

The fatalities were nine security guards and eight civilians, said Gov. Abdul Ahad of Gereshk District.

Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack in Helmand province and said they had killed 33 guards, Ahad said.

The United States will provide $73 million in aid to Zimbabwe, President Obama announced Friday after meeting with Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at the White House.

President Obama (right) praised Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at the White House on Friday.

“I obviously have extraordinary admiration for the courage and tenacity that the prime minister has shown in navigating through some very difficult political times in Zimbabwe,” Obama said.

“There was a time when Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa, and [it] continues to have enormous potential. It has gone through a very dark and difficult time politically.”

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe “has not acted oftentimes in the best interest of the Zimbabwean people and has been resistant to the democratic changes that need to take place,” Obama said. “We now have a power-sharing agreement that shows promise, and we want to do everything we can to encourage the kinds of improvement not only on human rights and rule of law, freedom of the press and democracy that is so necessary, but also on the economic front.”

The U.S. aid will not be going to the government directly “because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights and rule of law,” Obama said. “But it will be going directly to the people in Zimbabwe.”

In a CNN interview following his meeting with Obama, Tsvangirai said he is grateful for the generosity. “Whether it is humanitarian aid or transitional support, it adds up to the relief that Zimbabwe is seeking,” he said.

Tsvangirai said he told Obama he would like the United States to use its global influence to assist Zimbabwe in dealing with the challenges it faces.

Tsvangirai said he understood other nations’ reluctance to support the Zimbabwean government, given Mugabe’s controversial history.

“I think it’s fair,” he said. “I understand it, given our history, and I’m not going to defend President Mugabe.” But, he noted, the two have agreed to work together and help Zimbabwe progress as a nation.

In remarks with Obama, Tsvangirai said progress has been made by the transitional government, but much remains to be done. “It is the problems of implementation,” he said. “… even by the standard of our own benchmarks, there are gaps that still exist.” He said he would continue to strive to meet those benchmarks, not for the international community, but because “it gives [the] people of Zimbabwe freedom and opportunity to grow.”

The power-sharing arrangement between Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and Mugabe came after contested elections last year.

“Of course we cannot brush away that history, that sad history,” Tsvangirai told CNN. But he said he is hoping the country will heal and move forward, and wants even those skeptical of Mugabe to appreciate the transition process.

Asked whether he believes Mugabe should retire, Tsvangirai said “at the age of 85, I think one needs to retire.” But, he said, for his own legacy, it’s important for him to be thinking about a “dignified exit.”

“I think that [the power-sharing government] provides him with this opportunity,” Tsvangirai said.

Asked about his relationship with Mugabe, he said, “We don’t have to fall in love to work together. But we have accepted that we have made an agreement to have a workable relationship between the two political parties.” He said there had been acrimony between the two, but they realized it was not helping the Zimbabwean people.

“We are inspired by people like Nelson Mandela, who had to go for 27 years in jail but still come out and say, ‘Let’s forget about the past’ …” he said. He and Mugabe have chosen the process of dialogue rather than violence, Tsvangirai said. “Let history judge whether this historic experiment was the right course of action.”

Many Jewish settlers in the West Bank believe the land was promised to them in the Bible by God.

U.S. President Barack Obama has called for a freeze on all building in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

By that rationale, the thoughts of the U.S. president or even their own leaders means little.

But there is concern among settlers that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may buckle under pressure from President Obama’s new U.S. administration and freeze the expansion of any settlements in the West Bank or what they refer to by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria.

So far Netanyahu has spoken of his support for the “natural growth” of existing settlements — putting clear water between himself and the U.S. president. Netanyahu is scheduled to make a major speech on the peace process on Sunday.

Around 280,000 Jewish settlers live in 121 settlements — almost 200,000 more live in East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli-based Peace Now group, which wants settlements in the West Bank evacuated so that a two-state solution can be pursued.

But this is land the Palestinians want as a future state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Critics - both within and beyond Israel - say the settlements are nothing more than a land grab that only complicates the task of achieving a lasting peace; but many settlers say the West Bank is Jewish land and if Palestinians want to live there they must abide by Israeli law.

David Ha’ivri has lived in the West Bank for almost 20 years and says the U.S. has no right to tell him where to live. “We have God on our side and we will be able to exist with help or without help of any foreign nation.”

He adds: “The Palestinians are welcome to go and live in their own country on the east of the Jordan river (meaning Jordan), and the Jews have every right to grow and expand on the west side of the Jordan river (meaning the West Bank).

Over the years U.S. administrations have skirted around the issue of settlements, calling for a freeze on activity while tacitly accepting a continuation of building.

Israeli leaders have publicly supported the 2003 road map to peace, which calls for a settlement freeze, but in 2008, under the leadership of Ehud Olmert, “natural growth” was accommodated. Settlement growth last year alone was 4.9%, almost triple that of residential building in Israel itself, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

The era of gentleman’s agreements between Israel and the U.S. appear to be over.

President Obama cannot be clearer in his call for a freeze on settlement activity and Netanyahu’s policy could put him on a collision course either with the U.S. or with his largely right-wing pro-settler coalition.

Ha’ivri says: “Netanyahu was elected by the majority of people in Israel because they believed that he’d stand strong for the rights of the Jewish people in the land of Israel and if Netanyahu does not serve that purpose then we will change him with a leader who will.”

Efrat is part of a large settlement block near Bethlehem which, during the presidency of George W. Bush, Israel assumed would remain as part of any future peace deal.

Resident Eve Harow complains that U.S. policy would mean that an illegal outpost, which sometimes consists of a couple of shacks, would be equated with her neighborhood, home to around 7,500 mainly religious Jews.

She believes she needs to be in this area to create a security buffer zone between Israel and the Palestinians, saying, “The threats that face us here, if we pull back from these areas then they will face Tel Aviv. Sadly Judea and Samaria under the Palestinians will not be a neighbor that wants my existence even in the narrow waist of Tel Aviv, so by being here in Efrat I’m actually protecting the people of Tel Aviv.”

But the fact remains, Palestinians want the West Bank for their future state; the Obama administration agrees as does much of the international community.

Israelis remain divided about settlements. According to recent opinion polls, most agree that a two-state solution is the best path to peace. But they are divided about the chances of successful negotiations — as well as the future of settlers of the West Bank.