Disaster declared for rain-soaked Missouri
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., March 20 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush declared a major disaster in Missouri, where heavy rains were blamed for at least five deaths and hundreds of evacuations.
The system left at least 13 people dead in its wake in Texas, Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio, various news agencies reported Thursday.
In hard-hit Missouri, hundreds of people were forced from their homes, levies were breached and roads were closed, the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader reported.
The flooding across southern Missouri prompted Gov. Matt Blunt to activate the State Emergency Operations Center and Missouri National Guard, as well as seek federal disaster declarations.
The presidential declaration allows federal assistance to supplement state and local recover efforts.
The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Mo., where the storm dumped more than 12 inches of rain in two days, is forecast to crest at 44.5 feet by Sunday, AccuWeather.com reported. The river's flood stage is 32.0 feet. Record flooding is forecast for the Meramec River at Valley Park, Mo., where it is expected to crest at 40 feet -- 24 feet above flood stage -- by Saturday.
Dry air and only a passing shower were forecast for northeastern Texas through the lower Great Lakes, the area hit by flooding, forecasters said.
Snow is forecast to greet the first day of spring in the northern Plains while winds could whip across the southern Appalachians through the Northeast, AccuWeather.com said.
Obama's speech springboard for discussions
WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- Groups around the United States have responded enthusiastically to Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama's call for a national dialogue on race.
Already receptive to the plea Obama made Tuesday, universities worked to incorporate issues the U.S. senator from Illinois raised into classroom discussion and coursework and churches wove them into sermons and religious study groups, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Obama's speech, delivered to address the firestorm surrounding controversial comments made by his pastor, has been viewed more than 1.6 million times on YouTube and has been widely distributed.
The Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of a mostly white evangelical church in Florida, said Obama's speech was a "Rorschach inkblot test" for the nation.
"It calls out of you what is already in you," Hunter told the Times.
Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy and social welfare group, said she hoped the speech would help "create a safe space to talk about this, where people aren't threatened or pigeonholed" and feel comfortable discussing tensions "that exist around race and racial politics."
McCain pledges Middle East peace support
JERUSALEM, March 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, on a congressional fact-finding mission, told Israeli officials he supports continuing the U.S. peace effort in the Middle East.
During his visit to Israel, McCain also took a hard line against negotiations with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, saying talks were difficult to conduct "with an organization that is dedicated to your extinction," The Washington Post reported Thursday.
Qassam rockets routinely are launched from the strip into Israeli border communities.
"It's very clear that the Palestinian Authority in Gaza is committed to the extermination of the state of Israel. That's their stated goal," McCain said.
McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was in Israel for two days as part of a seven-day congressional trip to the Middle East and Europe with Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joseph I, Lieberman, I-Conn.
While in Israel, McCain met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He said he spoke by telephone with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Bin Laden angered by Muhammad cartoons
BERLIN, March 20 (UPI) -- Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is threatening repercussions against Europe for the repeated publishing of cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.
The al-Qaida leader, who has been in hiding for years, said Wednesday in an audiotape that Europeans will experience a "severe reckoning" for the cartoons, The Washington Post reported.
"It paled when you went overboard in your unbelief ... and went to the extent of publishing those insulting drawings," bin Laden said in the five-minute recording. "If there is no check on your freedom of words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions."
It was bin Laden's second speech in four months targeting European countries. He also criticized Europe for participating in military actions in Islamic nations, the Post reported. In passing, he referred to U.S. President George Bush as Europe's "aggressive ally ... who is about to depart the White House."
The audiotape was released by As-Sahab, the Islamic terrorist group's media arm. The organization also issued a still photograph of bin Laden holding a rifle.
Tibet protests spreading
BEIJING, March 20 (UPI) -- Despite China's claims of calm in Tibet, various reports indicate Tibetan protests against Chinese rule are spreading.
The Times of India said as Chinese authorities tried to get more protesters in Lhasa to surrender, there were reports of riots spreading to nearby Gansu province. Chinese authorities are not allowing foreign media from the region.
The BBC reported a big increase in the number of military convoys heading into Tibet from other regions.
In Beijing, organizers of the Summer Olympics stressed the Tibet leg of the Olympic Torch relay will go ahead as planned, Xinhua reported. The torch is to be taken to the summit of Mount Everest in May and pass through Lhasa the following month.
Even as the Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile in India since 1959, appealed to world leaders to urge China to resume dialogue on Tibet, British Prime Minister Gordon told Parliament that in his talk with Premier Wen Jiabao, the Chinese leader said such a dialogue was possible, the BBC reported.
Brown said he told Wen he would meet the Dalai Lama during the latter's visit to London in May and that the violence in Tibet must end. China resents world leaders meeting the Tibetan leader.
