TAWFIQIYA, Egypt -- Chickens used to roam every dusty street in every village across Egypt, and many of its city alleys too.

Even as bird flu has dropped out of global headlines, experts are worried about its persistence around the world. With 47 human cases and 20 deaths, Egypt is the third most affected country after Indonesia and Vietnam.

For the past two years the government has been trying to change the deep-rooted poultry-rearing behaviors that have turned the country of 76 million people into a bird flu hot spot.

But only with the rising death toll -- mostly rural women who traditionally tend chickens -- have Egypt's poor finally grasped the need to alter their ways.

Iran is demanding compensation for what it says are unlawful sanctions imposed by the U.N. for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, the Mideast nation's foreign minister said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

In the 20-page letter, Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran rejects the sanctions resolutions because the U.N. Security Council went beyond its powers, and its actions are inconsistent with the U.N. Charter.

The United States, the European Union, Israel and others suspect Iran's goal is to produce nuclear weapons. But Iran insists its program is aimed solely at producing nuclear energy and has defied the council by stepping up its enrichment activities.

LONDON -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his supermodel wife swept into Britain on Wednesday, mixing elaborate pomp with his impassioned warning that the West must beat the Taliban in Afghanistan no matter the cost.

Sarkozy played the statesman as he began his state visit -- the first by a French president to Britain in 12 years. Gone were his trademark shades and ubiquitous cell phone as he greeted Queen Elizabeth II and inspected rows of cavalrymen.

After a round of ceremonial duties, Sarkozy gave a fiery speech to a joint sitting of the House of Commons and House of Lords. He followed a powerful tribute to Britain's role in countering the threat of fascism in Europe with a promise to stand by London as it fights the Taliban.

"We cannot afford to lose Afghanistan," Sarkozy said, speaking in French. "Whatever the cost, whatever the expense, we cannot afford it."

MORONI, Comoros -- The Comoros government said Wednesday it has defeated rebels and seized Anjouan Island off the southeast coast of Africa.

Soldiers were searching for a renegade colonel who had sought independence for the island and ruled there since 2001.

The government claim that it had retaken Anjouan, which could not immediately be verified, came a day after hundreds of its troops backed by African Union forces seized the island's capital, Mutsamudu.

WASHINGTON -- The United States and South Korea said Wednesday that patience is wearing thin among international negotiators pressing North Korea to hand over a promised declaration of nuclear weapon efforts.

A spat over the North's declaration, which was due by the end of last year, has deadlocked six-nation nuclear talks. Disarmament negotiators insist that it address claims of a secret uranium enrichment program and allegations that the North transferred nuclear technology to Syria.

"Time and patience is running out," South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said at a news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice, after a private lunch meeting with Yu, told reporters that "it is really time now for there to be movement on the declaration."

BERLIN -- Petra the swan has a new home and so does her beloved swan-shaped paddleboat.

In 2006, Petra, a black swan, became so attached to the boat -- shaped like an outsized white swan -- that she refused to leave its side at a lake near a zoo in the German city of Muenster.

Petra and her paddleboat were taken to the zoo.

Zoo officials finally parted bird and boat last week after Petra settled down with a real white swan and the boat was returned to the lake. But the romance was short-lived. The zoo says that, on Saturday, her new beau flew off and sought out the company of other black swans.

A zoo statement says that Petra "appears to feel lonely" and is swimming around in an agitated state. The solution? On Friday, she will be taken back to the nearby lake and her faithful paddleboat.