Guinea prime minister backs coup

Guinea's new military rulers were endorsed by the deposed prime minister on Thursday, but condemned by the United States which demanded an immediate return to civilian rule.

Former Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare said he and other members of the government overthrown after the death of President Lansana Conte earlier this week were ready to work with the coup leaders in the West African country.

"Mr. President, members of the National Council for Democracy and Development, we thank you and we put ourselves at your disposal," he told junta chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, in comments broadcast by Radio France International.

Camara was chosen on Wednesday as leader of Guinea, the world's biggest exporter of aluminum ore bauxite, but he said he would not stand for president in elections promised in two years.

The United States said the military must work with civilian leaders to swiftly restore civilian rule.

"The United States condemns the military coup in Guinea. We reject the announcement by elements of the Guinean military that elections will not be held for two years, and we call for an immediate return to civilian rule," the U.S. Embassy in Conakry said in a statement.

"The human rights of all citizens must be respected, particularly those of Prime Minister Souare and the members of his government," it said.

Earlier on Thursday Souare and several of his ministers reported to the Alpha Yaya Diallo military base in the capital's suburbs, as instructed by the junta, which late on Wednesday replaced regional chiefs appointed by the late President Lansana Conte with military commanders.

Mining operations have not immediately been affected but analysts say foreign commodities firms may be targeted as sources of cash by the new rulers.

"I do not have the ambition of being a candidate at the presidential elections," Camara said in comments broadcast by Radio France International.

"I have never had the ambition of power."

Guinea's civilian leader, National Assembly President Aboubacar Sompare, who under the constitution should have taken over as interim head of state, has appealed to the international community to prevent the coup from succeeding.

COUP BACKERS

The soldiers who mounted the coup, calling themselves the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), appeared unopposed in their control of Conakry three days after Conte's death from illness.

Senior military officers who also met with the CNDD gave their backing to the takeover, the Guinean web site www.guineenews.org reported.

Camara said his administration would attempt to fight the corruption he said had become endemic under Conte's rule.

"The government did not do what it had to," he told state television. "It did not deserve the confidence of the nation."

Many businesses were closed in Conakry on Thursday and soldiers patrolled the streets, though roadside vendors were working as normal and people and cars moved freely.

"We have come out because we can't stay at home and we hope the situation will stabilize," said Souleymane Bah, a car mechanic in the capital.

The United Nations, African Union and European Union have also condemned this most recent failure of democracy in Africa, which comes after a military coup in Saharan Islamic state Mauritania in August, and post-election violence in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Nigeria.

France, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU until next month, called for elections to be held soon.

"The presidency points out the importance of respecting time limits and within the first half of 2009 holding democratic and transparent elections," it said in a statement.

International firms including Rio Tinto, Alcoa and United Company Rusal dig bauxite, the raw material for aluminum, in the former French colony.

Until earlier this month, Rio planned to spend $6 billion on the Simandou iron ore project, but postponed work as part of a cost-cutting scheme. A firm owned by Israeli diamond dealer Beny Steinmetz has since said it has obtained the rights to a section of the concession.

Camara and the 32-member junta announced the suspension of the constitution and the government on Tuesday. The CNDD has promised to hold elections in two years.

Camara has defended the coup as "a civic act ... to save a people in distress."

Source : http://www.reuters.com

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China said to be blocking Web sites

HONG KONG--The Chinese government has quietly begun preventing access again to Web sites that it had stopped blocking during the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, Internet experts said Tuesday.

Liu Jianchao, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said at his twice-weekly news conference on Tuesday in Beijing that the Chinese government had a right to censor Web sites that violated the country's laws. He added that "some Web sites," which he did not identify, had violated China's law against secession by suggesting that there were two Chinas--a reference to the Beijing government's longstanding position that mainland China and Taiwan form a single China.

"I hope that the Web sites in question will be able to self-regulate, and not do things that will violate Chinese law, and for the sake of both sides, develop conditions for Web site cooperation," Liu said, according to a transcript posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site.

Rebecca MacKinnon, a specialist in Internet issues at Hong Kong University, said that the Chinese authorities had recently resumed blocking access to her blog from mainland computers. "It does appear that in the last week a lot of things got reblocked that were unblocked during the Olympics," she said, adding, "I have not written about the two Chinas issue arguably in the past year; it is not what I focus on."

The government's action comes as the Chinese economy has slowed sharply this fall. Chinese leaders have begun cautioning about risks to social stability from high unemployment. Chinese officials have followed a pattern over the years of censoring the Internet more tightly at times of economic or political stress.

Asiaweek, a Hong Kong-based publication, reported this week that the Chinese-language version of its Web site, as well as those of the BBC, Voice of America and Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, had been blocked since early December.

On its Web site, the BBC reported that a number of foreign sites had been blocked and said it "expressed disappointment at the apparent reinstatement of the ban" since the Olympics. But at the news conference, Liu defended China's monitoring of the Internet by saying that other countries also restricted access to some Web sites.

The Chinese government "needs to do the required management of Web sites based on the law, just as what other countries are doing," he said. In recent days, Britain and Australia have moved to limit distribution of child pornography over the Internet. Germany requires that search engines not link to sites linked to Nazi activity.

But MacKinnon noted that in contrast to other countries the Chinese government defined crime very broadly, imposed censorship with little if any explanation and provided no process for operators of blocked Web sites to appeal censorship decisions. She added that even when entire Web sites were not blocked, the Chinese government still sometimes limited certain keyword searches.

Source : Copyright © 2008 The New York Times. All rights reserved.

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Rice pushes Pakistan, seeks to curb India response

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Pakistan to cooperate fully in the probe into the Mumbai attacks but she also warned India against any action that could stoke regional conflict.

In a delicate balancing act aimed at curbing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, Rice said she had gone to India to show the Bush administration's solidarity and empathy with the Indian people after the attacks on Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people, including six Americans.

"This is the time for everybody to cooperate," Rice told a news conference in New Delhi late on Wednesday.

But she stressed Pakistan must help India in its investigation into the attacks on the financial hub last week.

"Pakistan has a special responsibility to do so and should do so transparently, fully, urgently and that is the message that we have delivered (to Pakistan)," she said.

India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee had harsh words for Pakistan, linking groups based there to the attacks in which Indians and foreigners were targeted. U.S. officials have also blamed groups based wholly or partially in Pakistan.

"I informed Dr. Rice there is no doubt that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai were perpetrated by individuals who came from Pakistan and whose controllers are in Pakistan," said Mukherjee, with Rice at his side.

Rice said if "non-state actors" were responsible, then it was Pakistan's responsibility to take tough action against them and cooperate in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

RISE IN TENSIONS

Pakistan has promised to act but insists it needs tangible proof, and has also indicated it will not accept an Indian demand to hand over 20 of its most wanted men that New Delhi says are living in Pakistan.

When pressed on whether she would push Pakistan to hand over the 20, Rice skirted around the issue and said she did not want to "get into the specifics."

But she made clear any response by India should not lead to increased tensions between the neighbors, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.

"Any response needs to be judged by its effectiveness in prevention and also by not creating other unintended consequences or difficulties," Rice said.

In a two-pronged effort to put pressure on the Pakistanis, the top U.S. military commander flew into Islamabad while Rice was in India, urging that country to broaden its campaign against militant groups following the attacks in Mumbai.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged Pakistan to "investigate aggressively any and all possible ties to groups in Pakistan" and "take more, and more concerted, action against militant extremists elsewhere in the country."

India's government has come under fire for not heeding attention to warnings about an impending attack.

Rice, who was U.S. national security adviser at the time of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and came under similar criticism, said it was often difficult to translate information into knowledge to be used to prevent an attack.

"I think perhaps we have some sense of what this is like, the sense of vulnerability, the questions that arise, and the desire to make every step to try and make sure that it does not happen again," Rice said.

A senior U.S. official traveling with Rice said there was a sense among Rice and others that the Mumbai attacks could provide an impetus for India and Pakistan to work together to fight terrorism, just as happened in the early days after September 11, when nations rallied to support Washington.

Much of that support, however, dissipated when the United States decided in 2003 to invade Iraq.

"There is a feeling that there has to be an opportunity here. The only way we can see a way out of this is to leverage this into a serious effort (to fight terrorism)," said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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World leaders agree to act fast against recession

World leaders on Saturday backed a rapid action plan for the global economic crisis, agreeing on the need for measures to spur growth, better financial market rules and more say for emerging countries.

"We are determined to enhance our cooperation and work together to restore global growth and achieve needed reforms in the world's financial systems," the leaders of more than 20 industrialized and developing nations said after a summit.

Government spending plans to boost growth are needed with "rapid effect", but they did not commit to a coordinated push, and differences were apparent over how to regulate the financial industry, in areas including hedge funds.

In one historic breakthrough, they agreed emerging market countries should have a voice in running the world economy. They will study ways of giving them more power at the International Monetary Fund.

Presidents and prime ministers from the powers of the 20th century for the first time in a G20 summit joined the leaders of new economic heavyweights such as export colossus China and oil-rich Saudi Arabia. They met in a Washington museum around a large map of the world, trying to highlight the global nature of their rescue plan.

U.S. President George W. Bush hailed the meeting he hosted as a success, saying leaders agreed to pro-growth policies.

"It makes sense to come out of here with a firm action plan, which we have, and it also makes sense to say to people that there is more work to be done, and there will be more meetings," Bush told reporters.

Signs are mounting of a painful economic slump in many regions, with the euro zone slipping into recession according to data last week, unemployment climbing in the United States and elsewhere and emerging economies slowing.

As the summit began, the International Monetary Fund agreed to a loan worth at least $7.6 billion as part of a bigger plan for Pakistan where foreign currency reserves have dwindled and the risk of a default on its debts has grown.

In another sign of the scope of the crisis, India on Saturday took the latest in a series of steps to improve money market liquidity and help exporters.

The G20 group of advanced and big developing economies also agreed on Saturday there should be no rise in protectionism in the face of the economic slump.

Bush and several other leaders said they would aim for a long-elusive breakthrough in the struggling Doha round of talks for a global trade deal before the end of the year.

BROADER RESPONSE NEEDED

With Bush only two months away from leaving the White House and his successor Barrack Obama choosing to stay away from the Washington meeting, talk of the summit launching a top-to-bottom overhaul of global finance had been tempered.

In their summit communique, the leaders said the worsening economy meant "a broader policy response is needed, based on closer macroeconomic cooperation," and they backed fiscal measures to boost growth without risking budget discipline.

They also stressed the importance of monetary policy "as deemed appropriate to domestic conditions."

Central banks around the world cut interest rates together in an unprecedented move in October as financial markets panicked about a global recession, but with U.S. rates already close to zero, the room for more coordinated cuts is limited.

The leaders pledged to "take whatever further actions are necessary to stabilize the financial system."

Many leaders came to Washington stressing the importance of more regulation to crack down on excesses in the financial sector. Huge risk-taking on house prices, especially in the United States, backfired last year and triggered the downturn.

"We pledge to ... ensure that all financial markets, products and participants are regulated or subject to oversight, as appropriate to their circumstances" the summit communique

said.

But an action plan also agreed on by leaders gave hedge funds and private equity firms an apparent exemption from tough new controls, saying they "should bring forward proposals for a set of unified best practices" for review by finance ministers.

Leaders are due to meet again before the end of April and they set their finance ministers a series of tasks to review accounting standards, colleges of supervisors for major global banks, standards for credit rating agencies and limits on pay.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the next meeting would probably take place in London as Britain assumes the presidency of the G20 next year.

That is when the world will see whether a newly installed President Obama will take a different approach to Bush on how to tackle the economic crisis, as well as other issues ranging from climate change to international trade.

"President Obama before being elected was in Europe and I remember what he said in Berlin. He said the world should be seen as one. He stated very clearly his commitment to a global approach to global problems," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters late on Friday.

"We need global responses to global problems," he said.

Source : http://www.reuters.com
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Pakistan quake relief efforts focus on bitter winter

QUETTA (Reuters) - Relief efforts in a Pakistani valley hit by a powerful earthquake this week are turning to preparing thousands of homeless for a freezing winter, officials said on Saturday, as aftershocks jolted survivors.

The 6.4 magnitude quake struck Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest but most poor province on Wednesday, destroying or damaging thousands of mud-walled homes and killing at least 215 people.

The epicenter was in Ziarat district, a picturesque valley framed by jagged mountains and one of the region's main tourist spots. Night-time temperatures are falling below freezing.

Scores of aftershocks, some nearly as strong as the original quake, have hit with a magnitude 5 shock rattling the region at dawn on Saturday. There were no reports of new damage.

Population Minister Humayun Aziz Kurd said about 75,000 people were homeless because their houses were destroyed or damaged.

Authorities aimed to get everyone under shelter by Saturday night and into proper accommodation within a month to help them cope with the winter, he said.

"We have enough food supplies and they have reached every corner of the quake-affected zone," Kurd told Reuters.

"There's no major health problem that we're facing. Of course, people were injured in the quake, but our medical teams, the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and the people have done a great job."

The quake struck just over three years after 73,000 people were killed when a 7.6 magnitude quake hit Pakistan's northern mountains. Last year, the worst floods on record in Baluchistan killed hundreds.

PLAN FOR WINTER

A spokeswoman for the U.N. Children's Fund said aid was getting through.

"There is a lot of activity, the army has been very active in providing tents and food," said the spokeswoman, Antonia Paradela. "The work now is coordinating with the authorities and aid agencies to make sure all the people affected get aid."

The majority of the homeless were children with many sleeping out in biting cold either because their houses were destroyed or damaged, or because the aftershocks left families too frightened to sleep indoors.

"That's an area of concern, to make sure that children who survived the earthquake are going to be OK in the aftermath," she said.

"What is needed most now is to plan for the winter, to make sure the tents have some sort of winterization, extra layers, to make sure kids have warm clothing, to make sure there's no outbreak of disease because the kids are vaccinated.

The quake is one more problem for a government struggling with a balance of payments crisis and a surge of militant violence.

Allies have promised help.

Saudi Arabia is giving $100 million while the United States and China had promised $1 million each for rehabilitation work.

Japan and several other countries had also promised help while the World Health Organization said it was sending two truckloads of essential medicines and supplies.

The World Food Programme said it would provide 700 tonnes of dry food rations in initial relief supplies for an estimated 20,000 homeless.

Baluchistan is Pakistan's largest province but its most thinly populated. It has Pakistan's biggest reserves of natural gas but there were no reports of damage to gas facilities.

In 1935, about 30,000 people were killed and the provincial capital, Quetta, was largely destroyed by a severe earthquake


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Kashmir trade route reopens after 60 years

India and Pakistan opened a trade route across divided Kashmir for the first time in 60 years yesterday, in an attempt to bring a peace dividend to the Himalayan region that in recent months has seen an upsurge of anti-Indian rioting and heavy firing between the two nations' troops.

In the past few years India has been reluctant to open the Kashmiri border, believing it would see an influx of Islamic militants from Pakistan. Indian Kashmir has been scarred by violent insurgency since 1989 and peace is kept by hundreds of thousands of soldiers. But the violence has fallen sharply since the nuclear-armed states began a peace process in 2004.

Yesterday, fruit, nuts and honey were transported from Indian Kashmir, while Pakistani Kashmiri traders sent rice and rock salt across the de facto border. Security was tight as hundreds gathered on both sides - symbolising a wish for an end to the dispute that has led to three wars.

The lorries with their trade will be taking the same route as the bus service that links Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's summer capital, to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir. The visiting traders are expected to drive just a few miles inside rival territory and unload, from where other resident drivers will take over. Trade will be limited to one day a week.

"It is a big leap forward," said Mubeen Shah, president of India's Kashmir chamber of commerce."We will be sending 11 truck-loads across the Line of Control."

The new administration of Pakistan has surprised many in India with its emphasis on building trust through trade. President Asif Zardari has said he wants to see Pakistani-stitched jeans and Pakistani cement sold in India. "There is no other economic survival for nations like us. We have to trade with our neighbours first," he said

Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk
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Talks on Thai-Cambodia temple row

Generals from Thailand and Cambodia are to hold talks in an attempt to resolve a border dispute which led to soldiers exchanging shots and rocket-fire.

Cambodia claims two of its soldiers were killed on Wednesday in clashes near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

The fighting prompted Thailand to urge its nationals to leave Cambodia.

Tensions have been high since July, when hundreds of soldiers on both sides faced off metres apart, but both sides say they want a peaceful solution.

Thailand and Cambodia both claim they own the area around the temple, which became a Unesco World Heritage site in June, reigniting lingering nationalist tensions.

The two countries have failed to reach a settlement, despite several rounds of talks.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said the talks scheduled for Thursday were a good sign. He described this week's clash as "an incident between soldiers and not an invasion by Thailand".

UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply concerned" by the violence and urged both sides to show restraint.

'Good neighbour'

Both sides claim the other opened fire first on Wednesday, in an exchange that lasted about an hour. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said two soldiers had been killed and two wounded while Thai officials said five Thai troops had been wounded.

Cambodia also claimed that 10 Thai soldiers had been captured, but this was denied by Bangkok.

After fighting broke out, Thailand alerted air force jets and readied transport planes to evacuate Thai nationals from Cambodia.

But Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said the fighting was "small scale" and that he was committed to reaching a settlement over the issue with Cambodia, which he described as "a good neighbour".

'Death zone'

The military stand-off began in July when Cambodian troops detained three Thai protesters who had entered the site illegally.

More than 1,000 soldiers from both countries moved into the area, digging trenches into the rough terrain around the temple.

Cambodia claimed that Thai troops had recently returned to the area after both sides agreed in August to withdraw their personnel.

Thailand has denied that its troops entered Cambodian territory.

But on Tuesday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to turn the area into a "death zone" if the Thai troops did not withdraw.

The dispute centres on 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.

The temple is only accessible from Thailand and the area around it is heavily mined - a legacy of Cambodia's long war against the Khmer Rouge guerrillas.

An international court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but land surrounding it remains the subject of rival territorial claims.

Disputes between the two countries date back centuries when the Thai and Khmer monarchs fought each other for territory and power.

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Panic grips world's markets

The US government's $700bn bail-out of the banking industry collapsed yesterday as Congress defied the White House by voting down the plan, sending Wall Street stocks plummeting and spreading shockwaves through the global economy.

In a snub to President George Bush's authority, Republicans in the House of Representatives led a rebellion which defeated the rescue scheme by a knife-edge margin of 228 votes to 205.

As alarm mounted on Wall Street about the stability of the financial system, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 777 points to 10,365 - its biggest percentage fall for seven years and its worst drop ever in terms of points.

The package was intended to allow the government to buy toxic mortgage-related liabilities from banks. Financial experts had warned that without action banks would curtail home loans, car loans and student loans, as well as short-term credit crucial to keeping small firms trading.

Bush, who had spent the morning telephoning wavering Republicans in Congress, made a terse statement expressing "disappointment" and pledged to develop a strategy to "continue to address this economic situation head on". The treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, said he would work on an alternative plan: "This is much too important to simply let fail."

Although most Democrats in the House backed the plan, two-thirds of Republicans voted against it. Many attacked it as a perversion of free-market economics and a departure from Reagan-style liberalism.

As recriminations began, Republican leaders blamed the Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for framing the economic crisis as a consequence of reckless management by the Bush administration. "The speaker had to give a partisan voice that poisoned our conference," the Republican leader, John Boehner, said.

This was greeted with ridicule by the Democrats. Barney Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee, said: "Somebody hurt my feelings so I'll punish the country? That's hardly plausible."

The negative vote is a blow to the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, who briefly suspended his campaign last week to try to broker an agreement. He urged fresh efforts to find a deal, saying: "Now is not time to fix the blame - it's time to fix the problem."

On Wall Street, there were groans as traders gathered around television monitors to watch the vote. "Everybody stood their with their mouths open," said Sal Catrini, an executive director at JP Morgan in New York, who predicted that uncertainty would send stocks plunging. "We're seeing real selling, but no buyers."

Fourteen commercial banks have gone bust so far this year, and yesterday another troubled high-street name, Wachovia, was rescued in a takeover by Citigroup. In a Gallup poll for USA Today, 33% of Americans said they believed the country was in a depression.

The Mortgage Bankers' Association reacted by warning of job losses as banks curtail credit to small businesses. Larry Fink, chairman of a leading US investment management firm, BlackRock, said critics had been wrong to characterise the plan as a bail-out of Wall Street. "This is a bail-out of Main Street," he said. "Banks have no ability to lend at the moment because their balance sheets are so gummed up."

The financial fallout was swift and brutal. Shares in America's leading banks slumped - Bank of America by 16%, Citigroup by 12% and Goldman Sachs by 11%. The price of oil plunged by $10 a barrel to just over $96 as traders bet on an economic slump reducing the need for fuel. The dollar fell sharply and the price of gold surged close to record territory.

Peter Morici, professor of business at the University of Maryland, said: "Things are going to get so bad something will have to be done in the next few weeks. Banks will sink, credit markets will seize, the economy will go into something much worse than a recession."

Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk
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China Seeks to Calm Fears Amid Scandal

China on Saturday sought to calm public anxiety about a nationwide milk safety scandal as officials ordered the removal of all tainted supplies from stores, promised more scrutiny of dairy producers and issued warnings against price gouging. Meanwhile, President Hu Jintao scolded local officials as failing to safeguard the public interest.

The broad response underscores how deeply the dairy crisis has resonated with the Chinese public as well as the political problem the scandal has presented for the government, which only last year promised to revamp the country’s food and drug regulatory system after a string of controversies.

The scandal was initially limited to contaminated baby formula, which has killed four infants and sickened more than 6,200 others. Inspectors have discovered that 22 dairy companies produced batches of formula tainted with melamine, an industrial additive used to make fertilizers and plastics. In recent days, traces of melamine have also been discovered in some batches of liquid milk and in a frozen yogurt bar in Hong Kong.

The dairy sections of many grocery stores in major cities are now mostly empty from recalls. Consumers are rushing to buy foreign brands of boxed milk. Also, Starbucks franchises in China have switched to soy milk.

The Chinese news media have publicized brands of milk that have been tainted, a list that includes the country’s biggest dairy companies. Nearly 10 percent of the milk tested from two leading brands — Mengniu and Yili — revealed traces of melamine.

For days, parents have crowded into hospitals around the country to have their infants tested for the kidney problems that have occurred in babies who drank the contaminated milk over a sustained period.

On Saturday, the Ministry of Health ordered that all 31 provinces and major cities establish telephone hot lines to provide information and help.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, has promised to punish lawbreakers and to require companies that produced tainted milk products to pay for victims’ medical costs.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hu urged members of the Chinese Communist Party to “make self-improvement” during a speech at a party meeting in Beijing, according to Xinhua, the country’s official news agency. Mr. Hu said various work and food safety “accidents” this year “had indicated that some leaders lacked a sense of responsibility and had a loose governance.”

Mr. Hu did not mention the milk scandal, but the timing of his comments hardly seemed coincidental. Officials have blamed the dairy industry for the crisis, but many people on the Internet have also criticized the failure of the government’s regulatory system. Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have all recalled any dairy products made in China.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com
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Jennifer Hudson's new reality: She's engaged to David Otunga

Is Jennifer Hudson's life turning into a reality show?

The "American Idol" winner just got engaged Friday night -- on her birthday -- to her boyfriend (of less than a year) David Otunga, also a reality TV star. Of sorts.

You may recall David Otunga, or you may not, from his appearance last year as "Punk" in the VH1 reality show "I Love New York 2."

If you watched the show, then you know that the Oscar-winning "Dreamgirls" actress is going to marry a guy who was rejected on the show by a woman named New York who was also rejected -- twice -- by Flavor Flav on his own reality love show called "Flavor of Love."

Ouch.

Maybe Hudson knows all too well the intricate and secretly scripted play-to-the-camera aspects of reality TV. Maybe that's why she's not bothered by New York rejecting her fiance.

Jen's got a lot going on in her life right now. She's engaged, has a wedding to plan, has a new album out and her new movie, "The Secret Life of Bees," is due in theaters Oct. 17.

To see Jennifer's hot new fiance doing some bench presses, watch this video excerpt from "I Love New York 2."

Source : http://latimesblogs.latimes.com
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Tropical Storm Gustav Intensifies, Tropical Storm Hanna/Hannah is Born

According to meteorologists, Tropical Storm Gustav will be on the cusp of becoming a hurricane, just as it enters the Gulf of Mexico this weekend. For residents and students in the Louisiana area, this news has understandably brought back painful memories of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans only three years ago.

While Gustav obviously presents a more immediate threat, weather experts have already identified another tropical storm -- dubbed Hanna/Hannah -- forming near the Bahamas that may eventually head to the South too.

Reuters reports:

A new tropical depression formed over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday and threatened to become the eighth storm of the already busy 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"The depression will likely become a tropical storm later (Thursday) and could reach hurricane intensity within three days," the Miami-based hurricane center said.

The center's computer models predicted the depression would become an "intense hurricane."

"Depression" is right. There's nothing more depressing than hearing about storms that may or may not wash your home away.

Looks like residents in the South simply cannot catch a break, as Mother Nature seems intent on pounding the region with endless storms. Students in the area are advised -- yet again – to transfer to schools away from the coastline.

Source : Collegeotr.com
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Russia defies ceasefire, tanks enter Georgian city

Russian tanks rolled through the Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday, breaking a ceasefire agreement, and U.S. President George Bush said Russia had damaged its reputation with the West.

Gori is 24 kilometres from South Ossetia, the breakaway province at the heart of the dispute. Russian troops had not been in Gori when the truce was announced, according to Georgian

officials.

A BBC reporter in the city said Russian allies in Gori were looting homes and setting homes on fire, as tanks roamed the streets.

Bush said Russia's actions have put its integration in the wider world community at risk.

"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States and Europe and other nations ... Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," Bush said Wednesday in Washington.

He announced two steps by the U.S.:

• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel first to Paris for a meeting with France's President Nicholas Sarkozy, then Georgia, to express "America's unwavering support" for the democratically-elected government of President Mikhail Saakashvili
• The U.S. military has dispatched a C-17 cargo aircraft, loaded with humanitarian supplies, to Georgia

"This mission will be vigorous and ongoing," Bush said, adding naval forces will be also be used to deliver aid.

"We expect Russia to honour its commitment to let in all forms of humanitarian assistance," he said.

"We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces who have entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country."

Georgian officials reacted angrily at Russia's military presence in Gori.

"Russia has treacherously broken its word," said Alexander Lomaia, chief of Georgia's National Security Council. He claimed Russia had moved 50 tanks into the city.

A top Russian general denied there were any tanks in Gori, despite BBC reports to the contrary. Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of general staff, said Russia went into the city to find Georgian officials to discuss implementing the truce.

Georgia said the Russians seized a military base outside of Gori.

There were reports a Russian convoy headed out of Gori, but there is no word on its destination, although a Georgian official said it wasn't advancing on the capital of Tbilisi.

Bush said Russia's position outside Gori would allow it to block Georgia's main east-west highway, divide the country and threaten Tbilisi.

"We're concerned about reports that Russian forces have entered and taken positions in the port city of Poti, that Russian armoured vehicles are blocking access to that port, and that Russian forces are blowing up Georgian vessels," he said.

Abkhazia

Georgia also said Wednesday its troops have withdrawn from Abkhazia, the second breakaway province. They had been in an area known as the Kodori Gorge.

Some Abkhazian fighters had planted a flag on a bridge over the Inguri River, outside their existing territory.

"The border has been along this river for 1,000 years,'' separatist official Ruslan Kishmaria said.

Georgia would have to accept the new border, he said, adding the Georgian army had received "American training in running away."

Wednesday's accusations of Russian violations came about 12 hours after Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili said he accepted a ceasefire plan put forward by France.

Last Thursday, Georgian troops entered South Ossetia, which broke with Georgia in 1992 and has run its own affairs ever since -- albeit without international recognition. A majority of South Ossetians have Russian passports.

A day later, Russian troops entered the fray. Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people in South Ossetia, mostly civilians. That number can't be independently verified, but interviews with witnesses indicate that a death toll in the hundreds is probable.

Georgia's pro-western president wants to join NATO. Saakashvili said Russia's goal all along has been to destroy his country, a former state in the Soviet Union and one annexed by Russia in the 19th century.

Georgia is slightly smaller in land mass than New Brunswick and sits between Russia and Turkey, putting it at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.

Humanitarian crisis

Georgia estimates that Russian ground and air attacks have killed 175 Georgians (the country's population was 4.4 million as of 2007). At least 55,000 people have crowded into the capital of Tbilisi to flee the fighting.

"Most of the affected people have fled their homes with only the clothes on their back," David Gazashvili of CARE's emergency humanitarian unit told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.

Immediate needs include:

• Food
• Water
• Sleeping mattresses and blankets
• Shelter items

A major humanitarian challenge is access to the conflict areas, he said. "So we don't know what is the condition of people who stayed in the conflict area."

In Canada, the federal government has pledged up to $1 million in humanitarian relief.

Stephen Cornish of Care Canada told Canada AM from Ottawa that up to 30,000 people have fled South Ossetia.

"Right now, the access problem is a largely a political one," he said, and both sides must agree to allow unfettered access to humanitarian aid.

With files from The Associated Press

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Belgrade Has Mixed Emotions About Karadzic's Trial

The people in Belgrade have reacted with mixed emotions to Radovan Karadzic's first appearance at the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague Thursday. As Stefan Bos reports for VOA from Belgrade, the infamy of Karadzic is even generating some commercial interest.
Not everyone in Belgrade is interested to see the world's most wanted war crimes suspect appear on television at the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague.

In a pub near the detention center from where ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was extradited Wednesday, Serbs were watching a football match instead.

Belgrade resident Rajko Mitric understands their reluctance to see the man who is on trial on charges that include genocide related to the killing of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

He says he is not going to watch the trial on television because in his words "there is nothing new to be seen.". He adds, "I have seen the the trial of leaders such as former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. And I have noticed that the trial at the Tribunal was not fair. It is a political trial."

Karadzic appeared for the first time Thursday at the U.N. Tribunal in The Hague. During the appearance, he waived his right to an attorney in the courtroom.

Some are pleased with the television coverage, for business reasons.

A Belgrade tourism agency is hoping to cash in on the Karadzic notoriety by launching a sightseeing tour to the apartment where Karadzic lived while practicing alternative medicine, as well as to the nearby cafe and grocery store he visited.

Dragana Tubic is the manager of the tour:

"The tourists, like they say, want to see the building, the cafe, to see where he spend his time," said Dragana Tubic. "That is why we organize this. It is not something political that we propose."

Officials say the negotiations center around whether to open the apartment to the public for a fee, and perhaps even allow people to sleep there.

They hope news about the UN tribunal and Karadzic will help spark interest in other things Serbian, including the the country's cultural heritage.

Source : http://www.voanews.com

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5 ways to get your sex life going - Ladies

Unlike men, there are no approved drugs to take. If you go strictly by the rules, the best medical science has to offer is counseling, or a device that applies suction to your clitoris, or physical therapy for your vagina. While not to diminish these choices, where's that convenient, little blue pill for women?

That's what Joanne wanted to know. This isn't her real name, but she's a 26-year-old nurse at the Cleveland Clinic who felt no sex drive -- nothing, nada, zilch -- for eight years. She wasn't happy, and neither was her boyfriend.

When Joanne asked her gynecologist for help, she told her to talk to her psychiatrist. Her psychiatrist said her antidepressants were to blame -- they're known to decrease libido in about a third to a half of women, experts say.

"My psychiatrist just kind of shrugged her shoulders," Joann says. "It was just like, well, that's a side effect of the drug. That's just the way it is."

Finally, fate intervened on behalf of Joann's sex life. Last year, the anti-depressants she was taking stopped working, and her psychiatrist had to switch her to a new one. "All of a sudden, my sex drive went through the roof. It was awesome. It was wonderful," she says.

But it wasn't perfect, or even close to it. Probably because of her long-dormant sex drive, Joanne could get sexually excited, but couldn't reach orgasm. Again, after being shuffled around to various doctors, Joanne ended up with a urogynecologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

That doctor prescribed the anti-impotence drug, Cialis. At first Joanne thought it strange to take a drug meant for a man. But she tried it, and she says it's helped somewhat. "I'm still not able to achieve orgasm, but I'm getting closer each time," Joanne says. "We're working with changing the dosage."

Getting help for women's sexual problems is often a long and complicated road. "This is an area that's highly neglected," says Dr. Sharon Parish, an internist at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine who treats sexually dysfunctional women. "Many primary care doctors have no idea what to do."

So if you want help for your sexual problems, you may have to make suggestions to your doctor. "I feel like if I hadn't aggressively pursued it, I'd still be stuck in the same spot," Joanne says.

Here are some treatments for sexual dysfunction you can discuss with your doctor.

1. Impotence drugs such as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis

Some studies, like one out this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, show they work for some women with sexual problems; others have shown they don't work.

A woman's biggest hurdle could be finding a doctor who'll prescribe them, since they're approved by the FDA only for men.

The solution: Be frank with your doctor. Ask if he or she is willing to consider prescribing these drugs "off label." Be clear that you recognize these medicines have not been approved for women, and that you want to know about the risks and benefits.

2. Testosterone

Experts we talked to said taking testosterone has helped many of their female patients. "It not only helps with sex drive, it will also help with arousal," says Dr. Cynthia Brewer, a clinical associate at the Center for Specialized Women's Health at the Cleveland Clinic.

Testosterone, produced naturally by both men and women, boosts libido. Synthetic testosterone, however, has been approved only for use with men. In 2004, the FDA declined to approve a testosterone patch for women, saying it hadn't been thoroughly tested.

As with Viagra and its cousins, if you're interested in possibly trying testosterone, tell your doctor you know it's off label, and you'd like to discuss the benefits and risks for women -- knowing that not all the risks are fully understood.

There's one big hitch: Testosterone is available only in men's doses, which are way too high for women. You'll need a doctor who's familiar with how to fit the dose to a woman. There's no one central place to find doctors who specialize in female sexual dysfunction, but you can start at the American Urological Association, or at the International Pelvic Pain Society.

3. Arginine

Some doctors suggest using a cream with arginine, an amino acid that's supposed to increase blood flow.

"It's supposed to act like Viagra," says Brewer. "I saw one patient try it, and it had benefits. For another it didn't. Women can try it and decide for themselves."

4. Anti-stress herbs

You don't have to be Dr. Ruth to know that when you're under stress, you're not in the mood for love. "Stress levels will affect a woman's libido. We're more sensitive to stress than our male counterparts," says Dr. Esther Konigsberg, medical director of the Family Practice Center of Integrative Health and Healing in Burlington, Ontario.

Konigsberg often suggests these anti-stress herbs to her patients with sexual problems: ashwagandha, astragalus, panax ginseng. Licorice can also be used for stress, but she says your physician must monitor your potassium levels.

5. Experimental medicines

"There are a few investigational drugs in the pipeline for both pre- and post-menopausal women," says Sheryl Kingsberg, a clinical psychologist and chief of the division of behavioral medicine at Case Western Reserve Medical School.

Health Library

• MayoClinic.com: Female sexual dysfunction

While you can't get these on the open market, women can try to join a clinical trial. Two experimental drugs, called flibanserin and bremelanotide, work on the brain to increase arousal. A third, Libigel, is a gel that boosts testosterone.

The National Institutes of Health has a list of clinical trials for female sexual dysfunction.

And the most important rule: Don't wait for your doctor to ask you about sexual problems. "Women should feel empowered to bring up the topic first, because lots of physicians aren't comfortable bringing it up themselves," Kingsberg says.

Also, be aware that drugs won't help every woman with a sex problem. Kingsberg says drugs have helped about half of her post-menopausal patients, and about 20 percent of her pre-menopausal patients. The rest, she said, benefited from counseling.

Source : http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH

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Zimbabwe: China justifies sanctions veto

China has defended its decision to veto proposed UN sanctions against Zimbabwe's government saying they would "complicate", rather than ease, conflict in the troubled African country.

China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to impose international sanctions on key members of Zimbabwe's government, damaging diplomatic efforts to isolate the regime and inflicting a historic defeat on the Council's Western members.

The British-backed resolution would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and financial and travel restrictions on President Robert Mugabe and 13 other officials, and authorised a United Nations special envoy for the southern African nation.

But although nine countries, including America, Britain and France, backed the proposals, five countries voted against, including Russia and China, which both enjoy powers of veto as permanent members of the Security Council.

The defeat marks a shift in power at the heart of the UN, as Russia and China learn to flex their diplomatic muscle after years of Western domination since the fall of the Soviet Union.

"The people of Zimbabwe will not understand the Russian and Chinese veto," said the foreign secretary David Miliband, adding that he was "very disappointed."

China's decision to block the sanctions may bruise relations with Western powers weeks before Beijing hosts the Olympic Games. China also faces international pressure over Sudan, where international prosecutors are pursuing arrests for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

Liu Jianchao, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's chief spokesman, was quick to defend the veto as right for Zimbabwe.

"Under present conditions, passing a sanctions resolution against Zimbabwe would not help to encourage the various factions there to engage in political dialogue and negotiations and achieve results," he said in a statement on the Ministry's Web site.

"On the contrary, it would further complicate conditions in Zimbabwe."

The sanctions were proposed after Mr Mugabe was "re-elected" in a one-candidate election that was heavily criticised because of the violent tactics that forced the opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw.

More than 100 people, mostly opposition supporters are said to have died in the attacks.

Diplomats at the UN are normally aware of their colleagues' intentions before a vote is taken, and in the circumstances it is perhaps surprising that the US, which proposed the resolution, pressed it to a decision.

The result will be seized on by the propagandists of Zanu-PF, Zimbabwe's ruling party, who insist that Zimbabwe's economic travails – inflation is estimated at over eight million per cent – are due to Western plots, rather than Mr Mugabe's mismanagement.

Some UN officials had argued that a parallel mediation process being led by the South African president Thabo Mbeki should have beengiven a chance to succeed without imposing stronger measures.

But without new international pressure, Mr Mugabe will see little need to make concessions to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in the talks.

The defeat follows the failure of the African Union to condemn Mr Mugabe, despite observer missions criticising the election. Some leaders on the continent even made a point of overtly supporting him.

The veto leaves Mr Mugabe looking ever more secure in office, despite the blood shed for his 're-election', and demonstrates the difficulty of ensuring concerted international action – which would have been necessary to enforce the sanctions even if they had been passed.

Both Russia and China have questionable human rights records of their own, and have long been reluctant to support international intervention in what they see as other countries' internal affairs.

The Russian president Dmitry Medvedev had given ambivalent indications about his country's intentions at the G8 summit in Japan earlier this week. And China is one of Mr Mugabe's oldest allies and arms suppliers, a link dating back to the war against Ian Smith's regime, when it backed his Zanu guerrilla movement.

South Africa, Libya and Vietnam also voted against the resolution while Indonesia abstained.

It is the latest example of South Africa failing to support action against repressive rulers, despite the ruling African National Congress' own backing for sanctions when it was leading the struggle against apartheid.

Last year the country voted against a resolution calling for the Burmese junta to stop attacking ethnic minorities and engage in substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition.

Earlier yesterday Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel laureate, expressed frustration that some leaders on the continent had not condemned Mr Mugabe.

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk

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E.Coli in Beef Linked to 19 Illnesses in Ohio

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A sample of raw ground beef was found to contain the same harmful strain of E.coli O157:H7 bacteria that caused outbreaks in Ohio and Michigan and sickened 19 in Ohio in recent weeks, the state's departments of health and agriculture said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Information submitted with the positive beef sample indicates the product was purchased at the Kroger Marketplace in Gahanna. It is important for consumers to realize beef purchased from other sources may also be tainted, and steps should be taken to protect themselves from foodborne illnesses," the statement said.

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Pakistan Army Moves Against Pro-Taliban Militants

Security forces in Pakistan have begun an operation against pro-Taliban militants in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan and serving as a major route for trade and supplies to U.S-led foreign forces based there. The offensive has provoked an al-Qaida-linked self-proclaimed commander of the Pakistani Taliban to suspend peace talks with the government. From Islamabad, Ayaz Gul has more details.

Officials say paramilitary forces are leading the offensive in the Khyber tribal region and have destroyed key militant bases without any significant resistance. They say that most of the militants have retreated to mountains close to the Afghan border.

The government began the crackdown following increased sightings of Taliban militants in parts of the nearby city of Peshawar, just two hours drive from the Pakistani capital.

In a major extremist action earlier this month in the northwestern city, suspected Taliban fighters briefly kidnapped some 16 members of the minority Christian community. There were also reports of militants warning traders against video and music business.

Regional police chief, Malik Naveed Khan, tells VOA that criminal gangs were behind the kidnapping and other incidents but, as he puts it, media blew them out of proportion. He says the operation in the adjoining Khyber tribal region is meant to punish tribal criminals responsible for these attacks. The police chief says security forces are focusing on the town of Bara, which borders Peshawar.

"There were only some incursions from the tribal gangs in which unfortunately some Christians were kidnapped who were immediately released within ten hours," he explained. "And after that we strengthened our positions on the [city] borders and after that no such incident has taken place. The government has launched an operation in Bara against these miscreants, and they have successfully pushed them back and they have taken successful action against them."

Residents say that paramilitary soldiers have set up bunkers in areas of Peshawar close to the scene of military action and patrolled the streets in vehicles mounted with machine guns.

Saturday's anti-militant operation in the northwestern border region of Khyber marks the first major military action the new Pakistani government headed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has launched.

Speaking to reporters by telephone from his stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal region, self-proclaimed commander of Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, demanded the government immediately halt the security operation.

The militant leader says he is suspending peace talks with the government and his fighters will retaliate until the offensive is stopped.

Prime Minister Gilani started the peace dialogue with militants through tribal elders several months ago to try to end militancy and violence in tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan.

Commanders of the U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan authorities have long maintained the Pakistani border regions are being used by Taliban and al-Qaida militants for attacks in Afghanistan. They have criticized the government's peace talks, saying such deals will lead to more attacks on Afghan and foreign forces.

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Iowa River Falls, but Misery Isn’t Over

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — As the waters of the Cedar River started to slowly recede in this city overnight, officials in other cities in Iowa were fighting untamed rivers.

Officials in Cedar Rapids said on Saturday morning that the water will probably not recede enough to even begin pumping water out for several days. And it could be weeks before the water goes below flood stage. The record-breaking flood has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes in this city of 120,000.

In Des Moines, about 100 miles to the west, officials ordered the evacuation of more than 250 homes early Saturday morning as the Des Moines River breached a levee in a neighborhood north of the downtown area, according to The Associated Press.

Water was flowing freely through the neighborhood known as Birdland by about 8:30 a.m., according to WHO television in Des Moines. The water moved into the neighborhood quickly, with city streets that 30 minutes earlier had been dry becoming inundated.

The initial levee break occurred about 3:15 a.m., the Des Moines public works director, Bill Stowe, said in a news conference. City workers, assisted by workers from Polk County and the National Guard immediately went to work to put a secondary sand berm in place. That levee failed about 7:45 a.m. The economic costs of the devastating floods were also beginning to seep in: tourism officials, who depend on the short summers, were bracing for washed-out seasons; farmers in many states stared out at ponds that had once been their fields of beans and corn; and officials were preparing to shut down 315 miles of the Mississippi River, a crucial route for millions of tons of coal, grains and steel.

By now, one prospect — a notion no one wants to ponder but is impossible to avoid — has begun to emerge in Iowa, as well as in Indiana, Minnesota and Illinois: the possibility that this summer might prove to be something like 1993, when the torment of flooding resulted in widespread personal misery and loss, as well as economic cost of $20 billion.

“Right now, we can’t see anything as devastating as 1993 along the Mississippi, but we’re gearing up,” said Ron Fournier, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers’ district in the central Midwest, which just ordered three million more sandbags, 25 large pumps and a vast array of extra supplies.

“The hard part is as simple as not knowing how much rain we’ll get,” Mr. Fournier said. “Beyond what we saw 24 hours ago, and what we predict in the next 24 hours, we just don’t know what’s coming. We want the rain to stop.”

In this eastern Iowa city of more than 120,000, the rain had stopped by early Friday morning. In fact, the sun was out. But as the Cedar River crested at more than 31 feet — far higher than it had been in 1993, when it reached more than 19 feet — residents, rain-weary after several drenching weeks, seemed skeptical of the authorities’ suggestion that the worst might be over.

“If there’s one more drop of rain, I’ll be looking to pack up some stuff,” said Fernando Albino, 36, who sat outside his second-floor apartment, staring at the lapping waters just down the block.

Lia Mikesell took her three children on a walk to the water near their apartment building, and reflected back on 1993. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” she said.

Remarkably, officials have reported no flood-related deaths in this city, and only one injury — a twisted ankle. But the effects have been felt all around. Many businesses were closed. A hospital sent its 176 patients, including babies and the elderly, to other facilities. More than 15,000 people had no power. And Cedar Rapids’ water shortage remained severe, prompting officials from the chamber of commerce to issue a plea on Friday that businesses suspend heavy water use, lest the city impose mandatory restrictions.

Hotels were asked to stop refilling their pools. Restaurants were asked to use paper plates. Beauty salons were asked to cut back on shampoo.

While the water was expected to recede here, it may take days, perhaps weeks, and that is if it does not rain “There are going to be some trying times coming up in the near future,” said Brian Fagan, the mayor pro tem of Cedar Rapids, who described in stark terms a boat tour he took of the most heavily flooded areas: churches inundated above their stained glass windows, restaurants with water to the roof. The flooding has caused more than $700 million in damage here.

Elsewhere, other rivers were still rising, and officials say the worst may be yet to come, perhaps next week. In some parts of the Midwest, more rain was forecast for the weekend, followed by, forecasters say, a period of dryness. Most of Iowa’s counties were considered disaster areas, and new troubles were mounting in other states, as shelters opened, government buildings were soaked and sandbags seemed to be everywhere.

The aptness of comparisons to the flooding of 1993 seems to depend on where one lives. In a few towns along some tributaries of the Mississippi River, the recent flooding has already done more damage; elsewhere, along the Mississippi itself, nearly every community from the Iowa-Minnesota border into parts of Missouri is above flood stage, Mr. Fournier said, but not approaching the levels of 15 years ago, when about 50,000 homes in nine states were damaged or destroyed.

So far, weather experts said, the rain had come faster and more intensely in the weeks since late May, but not for as sustained a stretch as it did in June and July 1993. “What would make this like 1993 is if it lasts a little longer,” said Michael Palecki, a regional climatologist with the Midwestern Regional Climate Center.

Along the Mississippi on Friday, the Army Corps of Engineers was closing locks that had become inoperable because of high waters, and removing electrical equipment that could be damaged. By Monday, 14 such locks will be closed, Mr. Fournier said, effectively blocking all barge traffic for more than 300 miles between Bellevue, Iowa, and Winfield, Mo.

“The cost of this is easily going to be in the millions here, and that doesn’t even begin to count all the ripple effects of not being able to move things,” said Lynn Muench of the American Waterways Operators, a trade group of tugboat, towboat and barge operators and owners. Some barges already carrying loads may now get stuck en route, she said. Others may choose alternative shipping means or simply wait, she said, losing costly time.

“They are all concerned that 1993 is where we’re heading,” she said of her trade group members. “It was devastating. It basically shut down the river for the whole year. It was a total loss.”

In other areas, the economic fallout was stark. Some cornfields sat under water and wheat fields were smashed by tornadoes and high winds. The delays and troubles have pushed up commodity prices, already high.

“Is there a good time for a flood? No,” said Ernest Goss, an economist at Creighton University in Omaha. “Is there a worse time? Yes, and this is it. This is really going to add to the pinch on the consumer nationwide and to some degree internationally.”

In the Wisconsin Dells, a popular summer tourist region for Chicagoans and others, the Tommy Bartlett Show, a water ski show, reopened on Friday afternoon with jugglers, acrobats and daredevils — but no skiers and no water. Earlier this week, some of the flooding had actually caused the waters in Lake Delton, where the skiers had performed for decades, to cut a new path and vanish, leaving a muddy lake bed.

But even the scaled back show faced new problems as flooding elsewhere had caused major roads to be closed.

In Cedar Rapids — where tourism officials had, long before these events, deemed 2008 “the year of the river” in honor of the Cedar River — dazed-looking families were still trickling into two shelters the Red Cross set up in public schools on Friday evening. At the Prairie High School shelter, two neighbors — Richard Wells, 62, and Richard Branscom, 81 — drank Cokes on a cafeteria bench.

Both men had only their bags of medicine. “We couldn’t get nothing out, just ourselves,” said Mr. Branscom, a retired hotel worker, who was evacuated in a boat after the waters rose to his neck.

Source : Nytimes

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