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Hatching Again
Earlier this year, a massive epidemic of avian flu hit eight Asian countries, killing at least 23 people and leading to the death or culling of more than 100 million chickens — and that could be just the prelude. Last week China , Thailand and Vietnam all announced that they had chickens infected with the virulent H5N1 virus that causes avian flu, dashing hopes that the widespread bird culls had eradicated it. Officials in China quickly barred the export of poultry from the affected Anhui province and culled 30,000 birds within a three-kilometer radius of the original infection.

So far, officials say there's no evidence that humans have been infected in this latest outbreak. Researchers warn, however, that widespread human infection may only be a matter of time. A report published in Nature last week shows that the unstable H5N1 virus has evolved rapidly since it first infected humans in Hong Kong in 1997, killing six. The result was the virulent strain of H5N1 that caused this

Against the Wall MIDDLE EAST The International Court of Justice, meeting in the Hague, ruled that Israel 's controversial West Bank barrier violates international law and called on the U.N. to consider taking action to halt its construction. Jerusalem said it would not accept the nonbinding judgement, and the U.S. argued that it was inappropriate for the World Court to rule on what it called a political issue. AP PHOTO/EITAN HESS-ASHKENAZI The line of the security fence is marked out by a red and green line of wooden posts and railings

winter's lethal outbreak. Professor Yi Guan of the University of Hong Kong worries that H5N1 is evolving so fast that it may gain the ability to infect humans simply by mutating on its own. "We must face the problem, not avoid it," says Yi — or the problem will face us soon enough. — By Bryan Walsh. With reporting by Matthew Forney

Sentence Shelved
SWEDEN A Stockholm appeals court overturned the life sentence of Mijailo Mijailovic, the convicted murderer of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, ruling that he should instead be sent to a psychiatric unit for treatment. The court upheld his March conviction, but ruled that he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the 2003 killing. Mijailovic can be released if psychiatrists deem him recovered.

Probable Cause
FRANCE A preliminary government report concluded that the partial collapse of a terminal building at Charles de Gaulle airport in May, which killed four passengers, was likely caused by metal support struts piercing the tubular structure's concrete shell.

Their Day in Court
YEMEN The oft-delayed trial of six alleged al-Qaeda members accused of planning the suicide attack on the destroyer USS Cole opened in Sanaa. The attack, in Aden harbor in October 2000, left 17 American sailors dead. Alleged mastermind Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is in U.S. custody and is being tried in absentia.

Another Round
INDONESIA Retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono led in the first round of voting in the presidential election with early results giving him a 33% share of the vote. He appears likely to face a run-off in September against incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who placed second with 26%.

MEANWHILE IN BRITAIN ...
Henry's Va-Va-Voom
French footballer Thierry Henry isn't best known for his way with words, but he has netted a new entry in the latest Concise Oxford English Dictionary. For the first time the pages includes "va-va-voom" — a term Henry famously tries to learn the meaning of in a TV advert for carmaker Renault. (According to the COED, it denotes the quality of being exciting, vigorous or sexually attractive). Henry hopes the phrase lasts longer than another new entry, "flash mobs," the planned-by-e-mail happenings that grabbed attention last year but seem to have been a flash in the pan. Tony Blair hopes "sexed up" is soon forgotten.