There are fears that a swine flu outbreak that has leapfrogged from Mexico, across North America and into Europe could become a global pandemic,  rekindling memories of the SARS crisis that caused widespread turmoil six years ago.

The flu virus spreads quickly between humans and although it has so far only killed people in Mexico, governments across the world are taking measures to try to reduce its impact.

As the number of cases increases, what have you done to protect yourself? Have you stocked up on hand sanitizer, called in sick, or opted to walk to work instead of taking public transportation? Have you had to cancel travel plans or are you going about your life business as usual?

Share your reactions.

So, when actress Rose McGowan told reporters at a Toronto film festival press conference for her new movie "Fifty Dead Men Walking" that if she had lived through Northern Ireland's "Troubles," she would have joined the Irish Republican Army, she almost immediately drew a protest from the very man upon whose life the film is based.

"I imagine had I grown up in Belfast I would have 100 percent joined the IRA," said McGowan,  35,  who plays a high-ranking IRA femme fatale in the movie, alongside British actors Jim Sturgess and Ben Kingsley.

"My heart just broke for the cause and I have a lot of respect for the intelligence and the honor that these people carried."

"Fifty Dead Men Walking," which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday, is based on Martin McGartland's best-selling 1997 memoir of a young Catholic hustler living in Belfast in the late '80s who was recruited by British intelligence to infiltrate the IRA.

McGartland, who is still in hiding and lives under a false identity on the British mainland, responded with a statement on Thursday slamming McGowan's off-the-cuff remarks.

"Such comments are deeply offensive and hurtful to victims of IRA terrorism," he said.

McGowan, whose father is Irish, was born and raised in Italy. Could she really know what it meant to be an IRA member just because she was in a movie? Are statements such as hers made by actors "deeply offensive and hurtful" to people on both sides of an issue who have suffered in real life? They are interesting questions, and we'd like to know readers' views.

If there's one Hollywood rule that is nearly universal, it is that stars will almost always be late to anything -- to dinners, to events, to interviews -- and that even includes so-called "gifting lounges" where they get stuff free. Free!

Gifting lounges are nothing new at film festivals such TIFF, Sundance or Cannes or at big award shows (the value of past Oscar gift bags notoriously runs in the tens of thousands of dollars) but lately organizers have been doing more than just giving away items to create buzz around their venues. They look upon the lounges as "media hubs" where actors schedule press interviews, photo shoots and parties -- not just as quick, down-and-dirty stops to grab free stuff.

We ventured over to Hollywood Life magazine's gifting lounge at the Toronto International Film Festival to get an idea of why companies want to give their designer goods to stars (the answer is publicity) and if the added attention actually helps sell more products (that answer is yes).

"Our customers are looking to celebrities and seeing what they should wear and where they should shop. We've found a lot of success as a brand through courting celebrities and dressing celebrities and converting that directly into sales," said Sarah Wetenhall, a spokeswoman for British-based French Connection (otherwise known as FCUK), one of the sponsors at the Hollywood Life House. 

So on the festival's opening day, Hollywood Life House sponsors including Hamilton watches, Parasuco denim, Hennessy cognac and Miami Boutique Hotels, and a handful of Toronto television media were eagerly awaiting the fashionably-one-hour-late cast members of director Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla" with an eventual appearance of Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Toby Kebbell and Thandie Newton and a disappointing no-show from "Entourage" star Jeremy Piven.

Still, the sponsers say it is worth the wait, and eventually celebs do come around.

"From a hundred celebrities who pass through here, if two of them are caught wearing this, or are on the 'cover of' or 'inside of' (a magazine) that’s what it’s all about, " said Parasuco spokeswoman Ida Mirijello.

Montreal-based Parasuco, famed for it's rock-star embellished jeans and outfitting Bon Jovi's latest world tour, also sponsors award shows such as the American Music Awards and Golden Globes, where "Desperate Housewives" star Nicollette Sheridan picked up a pair of "Rock Me Baby" jeans a couple years ago and showed them off on the Late Show with David Letterman.

"Here she is on the David Letterman show, blinging her butt to the world, that’s what it’s all about," said Mirijello

Behavioral scientists say being able to draw attention to work contributions is easier for men, putting part of the blame on women for their reluctance to self-promote and ask for higher salaries.

Are women partly responsible for maintaining the glass ceiling in the corporate world?

Share your experience in navigating a male-dominated corporate structure.

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View this week's You Witness slideshow here.

"Sex and the City" fans and entertainment bloggers such as Perez Hilton are peeved that the premiere of the much-anticipated flick, based on HBO's hit television comedy about single women in New York, is going to be in London -- two whole weeks before the New York debut on May 30.

The film's producers downplayed the decision after coming under fire from New Yorkers.

London will be much smaller," a New Line Cinema spokesman told New York's Daily News. "The whole cast isn't even going."

"It was simply a question of logistics and scheduling. We're still planning the big premiere to be in New York," he said.

Do you think New York "Sex and the City" fans have a right to feel snubbed?