In Brief

DISPUTE – Sri Lanka’s government says troops reopened a reservoir that was the focus of weeks of fierce fighting with Tamil rebels who blocked its flow into a canal in a dispute over water supplies.

OUTBREAK – As new bird flu flare-ups hit Thailand and Laos, neighbouring countries like Vietnam are on high alert fearing the virus could resurface next within their borders, but experts say Indonesia remains the region’s biggest concern. LOYAL – Communist officials rallied hundreds in outdoor meetings to publicly declare their support for ailing leader Fidel Castro as assurances he was recovering begin to ease Cubans’ worries about their leader.DEMAND – Supporters of Mexico’s leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seized highway booths and blockaded the entrances to federal government offices, escalating their demands for a total recount of votes from July’s close presidential election.HELP-North Korea has requested help from South Korea to cope with devastating floods, a South Korean citizens groups says, a move that could improve inter-Korean relations chilled by the North’s recent missile test-launches.FEAR – Concern over the security of Russia’s museum collections mounted after officials revealed yet another theft – the disappearance of a famous late architect’s drawings, worth millions of dollars, from a Russian state archive.NAMPA-AP-ReutersLOYAL – Communist officials rallied hundreds in outdoor meetings to publicly declare their support for ailing leader Fidel Castro as assurances he was recovering begin to ease Cubans’ worries about their leader.DEMAND – Supporters of Mexico’s leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seized highway booths and blockaded the entrances to federal government offices, escalating their demands for a total recount of votes from July’s close presidential election.HELP-North Korea has requested help from South Korea to cope with devastating floods, a South Korean citizens groups says, a move that could improve inter-Korean relations chilled by the North’s recent missile test-launches.FEAR – Concern over the security of Russia’s museum collections mounted after officials revealed yet another theft – the disappearance of a famous late architect’s drawings, worth millions of dollars, from a Russian state archive.NAMPA-AP-Reuters