Bangladesh flood "worst" in Years

Via www.reuters.com DHAKA (Reuters) - At least 100 people have died and 250,000 left stranded by flash floods and landslides in Bangladesh set off by the heaviest rain in years, police and officials said on Wednesday.The low-lying and densely populated country, which is in its wet season, has been battered by five days of torrential downpours. The deaths took place late on Tuesday and on Wednesday. Most were caused by landslides, others by wall collapses, lightning strikes and surges of floodwater. Army, police and fire brigade personnel were helping in rescue efforts.Weather officials said more rain was expected over the next few days. Hundreds of...

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South Korea takes "major step" to accepting Canada beef

Via www.reuters.comBy Rod Nickel (Reuters) - South Korea has taken a "major step" to ending an eight-year-old ban on imports of Canadian beef, Canada's agriculture and trade ministers said on Friday.The South Korean Parliament ratified import health requirements for Canadian beef under 30 months of age on Friday, one of the final steps to ending the ban, the ministers said in a release.South Korea is the last major beef-importing country to agree to lower its restrictions on Canadian beef, since a 2003 case of mad-cow disease (BSE) in Canada. "This has been a long journey and today's announcement is a big...

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Syria buries victims of contested bombing

SANA/Reuters Via www.reuters.comBy Alistair Lyon BEIRUT (Reuters) - Crowds waving Syrian flags and pictures ofPresident Bashar al-Assad gathered on Saturday to bury 26 people who the authorities said were killed by a suicide bomber at a busy Damascus crossroads. The opposition Syrian National Council has accused the government of staging Friday's explosion to try to bolster its contention that it is fighting foreign-backed "terrorists", not a popular pro-democracy movement. A cortege of ambulances, lights flashing, bore the flag-draped coffins of victims to a Damascus mosque after driving through streets lined with...

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Philippine rescuers dig deep for landslide missing

Via www.afp.comBy Afp news Philippine rescuers dug through rock and mud Friday looking for people feared buried by a deadly landslide at a remote gold miningcommunity, as officials vowed to shut down unsafe mine sites. At least 25 people were killed on Mindanao island before dawn on Thursday when a rock and mud avalanche buried a mountain settlement of gold prospectors who had refused to leave an area declared too dangerous for habitation. However, the national government began to back away from the previous official figure of 150 people missing, saying only eight of them are known by name and there were no reliable...

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Calif. marine biologist accused of feeding whale

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Qatar's next big purchase: a farming sector

Via www.reuters.comBy Martina Fuchs DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar's energy resources have given it one of the world's highest per capita incomes, a futuristic urban skyline and enough clout to host the 2022 soccer World Cup. But its wealth may not be enough for the arid state to achieve an even more ambitious goal: becoming largely self-sufficient in food.Like other oil-rich, water-poor Gulf states, Qatar has been investing in large areas of farmland overseas to ensure access to food supplies. The agricultural arm of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, Hassad Food, has bought land in Sudan and Australia, and has announced plans to spend hundreds of...

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Philippines to shut some mines after landslide

yahoo.com Via www.ap.orgBy AP news MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government on Friday ordered the shutdown of gold-mining tunnels threatened by landslides in a southern town where a chunk of a mountain tumbled down on sleeping residents, killing at least 27 people.The landslide struck hours before dawn Thursday on a mountain dotted with mine shafts and crude shanties with corrugated metal roofs in Napnapan village in Compostela Valley province.It was the area's second deadly landslide in a year — 20 people were killed in a neighboring village last April — and prompted the environment secretary to call...

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Immigration process to be eased for some families

Via www.reuters.comBy Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government said on Friday it plans to reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from spouses and children who have been in the country illegally and who are forced to leave for as long as 10 years while their visa requests are processed. The move drew immediate praise from Hispanic groups, a key constituency for President Barack Obama in the 2012 election year."The purpose of the new process is to reduce the time that U.S. families remain separated while their relative proceeds through the immigrant visa process," U.S. Citizenship and...

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'It's more fun' here, Philippines tells travelers

http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/ Via www.ap.orgBy AP MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines is highlighting the ebullient nature of Filipinos in acampaign to draw more visitors to Asia's tourism laggard.The country says: "It's more fun in the Philippines."Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez says, "What differentiates the Philippines from other offerings is the Filipino."The campaign introduced through social media and other outlets Friday aims to draw 4.2 million tourists this year and 10 million by 2016 from only 3.7 million last year.The Philippines boasts of beautiful beaches and diving, English-speaking people...

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West readies oil stocks release as Iran plans war games

Via www.reuters.comBy Robin Pomeroy and Peg Mackey  TEHRAN/LONDON (Reuters) - Iran announced on Friday new military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, but the West has readied plans to use strategic oil stocks to replace almost all Gulf oil lost if Iran blocks the waterway, industry sources and diplomats told Reuters. They said senior executives of the International Energy Agency (IEA) discussed on Thursday an existing plan to release up to 14 million barrels per day (bpd) of government-owned oil stored in the United States, Europe, Japan and other importers. This rate of release could be kept up for a month, offsetting...

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