NEW YORK — A school assistant principal became the city's first death linked to swine flu, and the number of cases in Japan surged to more than 120 on a wave of new confirmations, prompting government-ordered school closures and cancellations of public events.

NEW YORK - A school assistant principal who was sick for several days with swine flu on Sunday became the city's first death linked to the virus and the nation's sixth.

Mitchell Wiener, who worked at an intermediate school in Queens, died Sunday evening, Flushing Hospital Medical Center spokesman Andrew Rubin said. Wiener, who had been hospitalized and on a ventilator, had been sick with the virus for nearly a week before his school was closed on Thursday. Complications besides the virus likely played a part in his death, Rubin said.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A New York middle school assistant principal who was hospitalized with the H1N1 virus died Sunday, a hospital spokesman said, though he stopped short of saying whether the flu strain contributed to the man's death.

Mitchell Weiner, 55, assistant principal at Intermediate School 238 in Queens, died at 6:17 p.m. Sunday, said Andrew Rubin, a spokesman at Flushing Hospital.

Rubin would not comment on whether Weiner had pre-existing medical conditions or whether the virus strain -- commonly known as swine flu -- played a role in his death.

Washington - The lawyer for an Arizona school district was grilled Tuesday by US Supreme Court justices who seemed shocked that a middle school assistant principal would order the strip search of a 13-year-old girl.

But as the hour-long oral argument continued, it also appeared possible that the justices may issue a ruling upholding broad authority for school officials to conduct wide-ranging student searches.