VIRUS: As China, Vietnam and Japan struggled with new outbreaks, the Asian Development Bank warned that a flu pandemic could kill up to 3 million people
China and Vietnam yesterday each confirmed new bird flu outbreaks, while Japanese authorities said 180,000 chickens would be killed after signs of the virus were found at a farm.

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By Charles Snyder, Jimmy Chuang and Chang Yun-ping
Taiwan's foreign ministry has sent a message to the US government to allay any concerns Washington may have over President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) handling of the TVBS case, Taiwan's representative to the US, David Lee (李大維), said on Thursday.

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REVERSAL: In a move hailed by Bush and derided by critics as a political ploy, the Senate voted to allow oil exploration in a pristine wildlife refuge in Alaska
The US Senate reversed a decades-old ban on drilling in a pristine Alaska refuge, opening the area for oil exploration in what critics derided as a political ploy that will do little to allay the US' dependence on foreign oil.

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Book buyers, soon you'll be able to pay by the page.

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US Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials of US President George W. Bush's administration could be called to testify if Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's top aide, goes to trial on a criminal indictment involving how the US went to war in Iraq.

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