Please see Vongsone or Melissa for more information about ETL's 2002 summer picnic, Kiki Island .

Global Water Crisis High on Earth Summit Agenda: "Of the myriad issues on the table for a U.N. summit in August that aims to cut world poverty and save the environment, few are as critical as getting safe drinking water to the 1.1 billion people who go without it. The European Union has warned the world was in a global water crisis, and made the issue a priority for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and also at final preparatory talks here on Indonesia's resort island of Bali."

Heavy rain prompts flood warning: "The rainy weather that hit China Sunday has put the Yangtze River valley at risk of flooding, a senior weather expert has warned. Over the next few days, eastern and northern parts of China will still see large amounts of rainfall, with storms in part of those areas, said the Central Meteorological Observatory."

Montana May Seed Clouds For Rain: "As much of Montana's prime farm land enters a fourth straight year of drought, many of the state's agricultural leaders and producers like Young are giving cloud seeding a new look - and hoping state regulators will do the same."

Drought-stricken US farmers seek more federal aid: "A sweltering drought in the U.S. Southwest and Plains states has farmers seeking more federal assistance, saying a new six-year farm law loaded with subsidies of billions of dollars is not enough."

Sierra snowpack on downhill course: "There will likely be more rain falling on Northern California in the future, but a much smaller snowpack, making water shortage problems more severe. That's the conclusion of a new study on global warming done by researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz."

Dirty Bomb Plan Thwarted: "The U.S. government has arrested an alleged al Qaida terrorist who plotted to build and detonate a radiological 'dirty' bomb, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday. Ashcroft said Abdullah Al Mujahir was in the custody of the U.S. military and being treated as an enemy combatant, suggesting plans for the first military tribunal of an alleged terrorist."

Good morning. Melissa asked me to remind everyone that office supplies will be ordered today. If you need anything, please contact her before noon.

A Rift Among Bloggers: "Five years ago, programmers pioneered Weblogs, or blogs. These days, many consider Weblogs to be inherently political, something that has angered Weblog veterans."

World Cup News: The USA and South Korea tied 1 to 1, Tunisia and Belgium tied 1 to 1, and Portugal beat Poland 4 to 0.