IRAQ: U.S. and Iraqi forces have begun an operation in the city of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, to bring the volatile Shi'ite town under government control. The U.S. military says Iraqi army troops backed by U.S. forces moved into the city early this morning to disrupt activities of a Shi'ite militia loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan police say at least four people have been killed and four others wounded in a suicide car bombing in the capital, Kabul. Police said one policeman was among the dead. Today's attack took place near the country's parliament building in a high security area of Kabul.
BIRD FLU: A 13-year old Cambodian girl has died from bird flu, bringing to seven the number of people in the country who have died from the virus. The World Health Organization and Cambodian health ministry have confirmed that the girl was infected with the H5N1-strain of bird flu. Elsewhere, Indonesia said it has confirmed another human bird flu fatality in the country.CHINA POLLUTION: China's state-run media say water supplies have been cut off to as many as 150-thousand people in southern China after authorities found high levels of heavy metals in a river. The Xinhua news agency says at least 100 kilometers of the Honghe in China's Guangxi region were found to be contaminated with excessive levels of lead and other heavy metals.
VIETNAM - US - DISSIDENTS: A U.S. Congresswoman visiting Vietnam says police there have physically prevented wives of dissidents from meeting with her and the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. In a press statement released today, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said a several wives of dissidents were invited by U.S. Ambassador Michael Marine to discuss what she calls the recent escalation of human rights violations by the Vietnamese government.JAPAN - CONSTITUTION: A Japanese survey indicates that support for revising Japan's pacifist constitution has fallen. A poll of more than 17-hundred people conducted by Japan's Yomiuri newspaper found that 46-percent support revising the constitution, while 39-percent do not. The number favoring revision dropped nine-percentage points from last year's survey, the third straight year of decline. CLIMATE CHINAGE: Objections from diplomats at a conference in Brussels have weakened conclusions in a report on global warming due for release today. The chairman of the conference says the report has finally been approved after a marathon meeting. Disagreements delayed the lengthy report's summary, which was to be released earlier today.
INDONESIAN RABBIT: One of the world's rarest rabbits has been spotted in Indonesia for only the third time in the last 35 years. The World Conservation Union says the Sumatran striped rabbit was caught on camera in Indonesia's Bukit Barisan National Park. It says the chalk colored rabbit with dark brown stripes is critically endangered.
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