New hope in Iraq
The U.S. military expressed hope Sunday for a diplomatic solution to seven weeks of fighting in Baghdad’s Sadr City as a fragile cease-fire settled over the Shiite slum that houses nearly half the capital’s 6 million people.
Sudan, Chad argue
Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital Khartoum the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding in the city.
Hunger strike
More than 200 Taliban suspects have gone on a hunger strike in the Kandahar, Afghanistan, prison to demand fair trials, officials said Sunday.
Torch threat
A 28-year-old man in Zhenjiang, China, was arrested for saying on the Internet that he planned to grab the Olympic torch during its relay through eastern China, police said Sunday.
Gaza Strip death
Hamas says a member of the militant group has been killed in an explosion along Gaza’s fence with Israel. But Israel’s army said it was not operating in the area at the time of the explosion early Sunday.
Cop murdered
The No. 2 police officer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across from the Texas border, was shot dead Saturday, the latest high-ranking official killed in an onslaught of attacks blamed on gangs resisting a crackdown.
Food supply help
The Dominican Republic has expanded subsidies on basic food staples to maintain calm after deadly food riots recently struck neighboring Haiti. Food riots in Haiti killed seven people in April and cost the prime minister his job.
THE DIGIT
48
Crushed by debts most Westerners would deem inconsequential, farmers in India killed themselves at a rate of 48 a day between 2002 and 2006 — more than 17,500 a year, according to experts who have analyzed government statistics.
AND FINALLY …
– Carousel breaks down in Ukraine, killing at least 2, injuring 8 – Passengers evacuate Chinese airliner after fire alarm – South Korea to double drug stockpile as bird flu spreads
