Cambodian police say they have freed dozens of students held hostage by gunmen at a school in the northwestern part of the country. But they say a Canadian child was killed by the hostage-takers. Police officials say security forces stormed the International School in the town of Siem Reap, arresting four gunmen and ending an hour-long standoff.
Indonesian health officials have reported the country's first human case of bird flu. Authorities say blood tests of a poultry farmer on the island of Sulawesi indicate exposure to the H5N1 strain. Doctors say the man is healthy and currently showing no outward signs of illness. Bird flu has swept through poultry populations in large swaths of East and Southeast Asia. Tens of millions of poultry have either died or been slaughtered. The disease has killed 38 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four from Cambodia since late 2003.
An Iraqi judge, five U.S. Marines and an American sailor have been killed in separate insurgent attacks in Iraq. Police said judge Salem Mahmoud al-Haj Ali and his driver were gunned down on way to work in the northern city of Mosul this (Thursday) morning. The U.S. military announced today that five Marines were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb blast Wednesday near the town of Ramadi, west of the Iraqi capital. It said the sailor died of wounds received during combat operations in Ramadi.
European Union leaders are opening a two-day crisis summit today (Thursday) in Brussels. Today (Thursday) the 25 leaders will discuss the future of a proposed EU constitution, after French and Dutch voters rejected it. They must now determine whether to continue with the ratification process or postpone it.
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