In Brief

* UNREST – A mortar round exploded during a ceremony outside the town of Tikrit attended by US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and other top officials, wounding one person, an AFP correspondent reported.

* CONSTITUTION – Japan would once again have a force described as the “military” six decades after the United States stripped it of the right to keep armed forces, in the first revision of the post-World War II constitution. * BLAST – Panic spread through one of China’s largest cities as residents hoarded water and food ahead of a four-day water stoppage due to fears a chemical explosion had contaminated drinking supplies.* ANNIVERSARY – Ukraine marked the first anniversary of its “orange revolution,” the mass protests over a rigged election that ousted an entrenched pro-Russian regime, installed pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko in power and deeply divided the ex-Soviet country.* ATTACKS – The threat from terrorism was immediate and extreme and South-east Asia was a key battleground, Singapore’s Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean told a counter-terrorism conference.* TENSION – The United Nations has ordered the families of all its staff in Eritrea to leave the country amid soaring border tensions with arch-rival Ethiopia that have raised fears of a new war, senior UN officials say.* AIDS – The worldwide tally of people infected with HIV surpassed 40 million, with five million new cases in 2005, despite progress in tackling the disease in Africa.- Nampa-AFP* BLAST – Panic spread through one of China’s largest cities as residents hoarded water and food ahead of a four-day water stoppage due to fears a chemical explosion had contaminated drinking supplies.* ANNIVERSARY – Ukraine marked the first anniversary of its “orange revolution,” the mass protests over a rigged election that ousted an entrenched pro-Russian regime, installed pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko in power and deeply divided the ex-Soviet country.* ATTACKS – The threat from terrorism was immediate and extreme and South-east Asia was a key battleground, Singapore’s Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean told a counter-terrorism conference.* TENSION – The United Nations has ordered the families of all its staff in Eritrea to leave the country amid soaring border tensions with arch-rival Ethiopia that have raised fears of a new war, senior UN officials say.* AIDS – The worldwide tally of people infected with HIV surpassed 40 million, with five million new cases in 2005, despite progress in tackling the disease in Africa.- Nampa-AFP