Flooding in the Midwest:
Flooding worries spread to other towns along the Mississippi
In Washington, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said the flooding has devastated his state's corn crop and may have inflicted up to $1 billion in damage to Iowa's agricultural sector alone. The flooding has forced farm-equipment manufacturer John Deere to idle two plants in Waterloo, he said.
"Across eastern Iowa, the flooding rivers have washed out railroad lines; Mississippi barge traffic has come to a halt; and closed major roadways," said Harkin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. "Thousands of Iowa businesses, large and small, have been impacted."
In Cedar Rapids, residents were allowed to return home temporarily to retrieve keepsakes and other items Sunday, but authorities said Monday that strike teams had determined the neighborhoods were no longer safe, even for a quick visit.
"We are taking a step back," Cedar Rapids Fire Department spokesman Dave Brown said, adding it would be awhile before evacuees would be permitted to go back home.
Police set up checkpoints to keep people away from the affected neighborhoods, deemed unsafe after weeks of heavy rain forced the Cedar River from its banks, leaving much of Iowa's second-largest city underwater.
They had to temporarily shut down John Deere plants? Awful. That is one of the most beloved brands in my neck of the woods. :(
Flooding in China:
More floods threaten south China
Dykes and embankments are being reinforced in southern China amid some of the worst storms in decades.
At least 63 people have already died in nine provinces in the south - China's industrial heartland - this month, said the civil affairs ministry. It said 1.66 million people had been evacuated from the hardest-hit areas over the past 10 days. Up to 70,000 of those being evacuated are from Wenchuan county in Sichuan - the epicentre of May's deadly quake.
Flooding from the recent heavy rain has destroyed tens of thousands of homes and submerged swathes of farmland, said the civil affairs ministry. The ministry is quoted as saying the floods are the worst in decades, and puts economic losses so far at 14.5bn yuan ($2.1bn).
China's really going through it these days. I feel sorry for the people, though I laugh mockingly at their government. Commies think you can control everything? God says otherwise.
Flooding in Somalia:
Deadly flooding in Somali capital
Floods have left at least six people dead in and around the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Torrential rains over the weekend also affected thousands of displaced people living in camps outside the city. The floods came after another week of violence in Somalia, in which dozens of civilians, two aid workers and a BBC reporter were killed.
The UN World Food Programme has warned that nearly half Somalia's population will require aid later this year.
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In Japan, quake rescue continues:
TOKYO - Soldiers fighting through a torrent of mud and rocks dug three bodies from a hot spring resort Sunday, bringing the death toll from a magnitude 7.2-earthquake in northern Japan to at least nine, with more than 200 injured.
Rescuers, often forced to resort to shovels and buckets, raced to dig through the mire as helicopters kept watch overhead and troops on the ground used backhoes to clear roads blocked by tons of fallen rock, dirt and trees.
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Fire season heating up!
California
Colorado
Virginia
North Carolina
Utah
New Mexico
Manitoba
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Don't look now, but this year's tornado season is on pace to break some records.
With the year not even half done, 2008 is already the deadliest tornado year in the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S. record for the number of twisters in a year, according to the National Weather Service. Also, this year’s storms seem to be unusually powerful.
But like someone who has lost all his worldly possessions to a whirlwind, meteorologists cannot explain exactly why this is happening.
“There are active years and we don’t particularly understand why,” said research meteorologist Harold Brooks at the National Severe Storms Lab in Norman, Okla.
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Why am I picturing Bagdad Bob when I read this?
Pentagon Denies Taliban Takeover in Afghan District, Vows to Defeat Any Summer Offensive
The Pentagon says reports that Taliban forces have taken over several villages in southern Afghanistan are false, and that any Taliban offensive in the area will be defeated. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
The Pentagon says a U.S. patrol in the Arghandab district of Kandahar Province Tuesday encountered no Taliban forces. News reports continue to indicate that hundreds of Taliban fighters have taken control of eight villages in the area about 15 kilometers from Kandahar City, where Taliban fighters freed about 400 of their comrades from a prison on Friday. The reports quote local residents as saying the fighters are preparing for a major battle with U.S. and NATO forces. And a Taliban spokesman is quoted as saying his forces will attack selected targets in Kandahar City next.
IDF warns of terror attack ahead of Gaza cease-fire
The IDF will maintain a high level of alert along the Gaza Strip border over the next 24 hours, out of fear that Palestinian terror groups will launch a massive terror attack to sabotage a proposed Israeli-Hamas cease-fire, military sources said on Tuesday.
According to the deal brokered by Egypt, the cease-fire will go into effect 6 a.m. Thursday with a complete cessation of terrorist activity in Gaza and Israeli military operations. After three days, Israel will slightly ease the blockade on Gaza and open up the crossings to allow in vital humanitarian supplies. If the cease-fire lasts, Israel will further ease restrictions at cargo crossings.
Prison for Turkey book 'insult'
A Turkish publisher has been sentenced to five months in prison for publishing a book by a British author about the mass killing of Armenians in 1915.
Ragip Zarakolu was found guilty of "insulting the institutions of the Turkish republic" under Article 301 of Turkey's penal code.
The controversial law was recently reformed under pressure from the EU to ensure freedom of speech in Turkey.
On the potential good news front:
Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol
He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.
So basically, they eat trash and poop black gold? Neato!
On the rollercoaster-to-Babylon front:
U.S. School District to Begin Microchipping Students
(NaturalNews) A Rhode Island school district has announced a pilot program to monitor student movements by means of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips implanted in their schoolbags.
The Middletown School District, in partnership with MAP Information Technology Corp., has launched a pilot program to implant RFID chips into the schoolbags of 80 children at the Aquidneck School. Each chip would be programmed with a student identification number, and would be read by an external device installed in one of two school buses. The buses would also be fitted with global positioning system (GPS) devices.
Great.
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