Last Aussie Combat Troops Home From Iraq
June 22, 2008

(CBS/AP) Eighty members of Australia's Overwatch Battle Group - the last of that nation's troops serving in combat roles in southern Iraq - returned home yesterday, fulfilling a campaign promise by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to bring home all of Australia's combat troops from that Iraq.

Family and friends cheered the "Diggers" at Brisbane Airport.

About 300 Australian troops remain in Iraq in non-combat roles.

The Aussies were based in southern provinces of al-Muthanna and Dhi Qar, which were the first to transfer control to Iraqi security forces.

U.S. troops now provide backup security for the Iraqis in that region. [Read More!]

World Environment Day calls for end to carbon addiction
Thu Jun 5, 2008 12:43am EDT
By Gyles Beckford

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The United Nations urged the world on Thursday to kick an all-consuming addiction to carbon dioxide and said everyone must take steps to fight climate change.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said global warming was becoming the defining issue of the era and will hurt rich and poor alike.

"Our world is in the grip of a dangerous carbon habit," Ban said in a statement to mark World Environment Day, which is being marked by events around the globe and hosted by the New Zealand city of Wellington. [Read More!]