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Crops take hit in Midwest flooding

QUINCY, Ill., June 18 (UPI) -- Officials and volunteers battling floods along the Mississippi River in Illinois and Missouri say thousands of acres of farm crops have been lost in the area.

Floodwaters overtopped a levee near Meyer, Ill., allowing the swollen river to pour into prime farmland in Hancock and Adams counties, where wheat fields were just about ready to be harvested, CNN reported Wednesday.

"There's a lot of wheat fields down here just about ready to be harvested, and they're going to lose all that," Hancock County Sheriff John Jefferson told the network. "The corn crop, the bean crop that's up is all going to be lost. And the real work's going to come after the flood recedes. It'll take years to get this ground back into shape to farm it."

In nearby LaGrange, Mo., floodwaters poured over a levee and engulfed Wakonda State Park, where about 90 percent of its 1,050 acres were underwater, the Quincy (Ill.) Herald-Whig reported, adding that no one was injured is flooding.

Downstream near St. Louis, officials expected the Mississippi to crest on Monday at 39.8 feet, about 10 feet lower than the historic 1993 floods, the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat reported.

Afghanistan army to expel Taliban in south

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 18 (UPI) -- Two Afghan soldiers and at least 23 militants died during a military push to expel Taliban rebels from some southern villages, Afghan defense officials said.

Afghan troops, assisted by Canadian military forces, focused on villages in the area of Kandahar province where 400 rebels escaped from jail last week, CNN reported.

Thousands of soldiers and police officers began moving into the Arghandab district Wednesday for the operation that's expected to last three days, said Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi.

NATO and Afghan forces dropped leaflets that warned residents to stay inside their homes if fighting broke out nearby.

Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry reported four British soldiers were killed in another part of southern Afghanistan Tuesday, The New York Times reported.

"The soldiers were taking part in a deliberate operation east of Lashkar Gah when the vehicle in which they were traveling was caught in an explosion," the Defense Ministry said in a statement issued in London.

Israel seeks Lebanon peace talks

JERUSALEM, June 18 (UPI) -- The Israeli government, after reaching a cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza, now says it's ready for direct peace talks with Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told other government officials he wants to start a round of negotiations with Lebanese leaders, government spokesman Mark Regev told reporters Wednesday. The New York Times said Regev indicated all issues would be on the table, including the thorny topic of which country has jurisdiction over the disputed Shabaa Farms area.

The call for talks with Lebanon comes at a time when Israel and Syria are holding indirect negotiations on a host of topics. Because the Lebanese Islamic militant group Hezbollah has links to both Syria and Hamas, engaging Lebanon is seen as a logical progression of the other diplomatic efforts, the newspaper said.

The Shabaa Farms issue will likely be an early focus of any negotiations with Lebanon, sources said. Israel continues to hold the district as part of its occupation of the Golan Heights, and Hezbollah has cited Shabaa Farms as justification for hanging on to weapons in the face of a U.N. resolution calling for them to disarm, the Times said.

Obama team courting Clinton supporters

WASHINGTON, June 18 (UPI) -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and campaign aides are scouring Capitol Hill seeking support from Obama's former rival for U.S. president, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Obama met Tuesday with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, many with long, friendly relationships with the Clintons, The Politico, a political news Web site, said. He's expected to meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, a third of whom backed Clinton in the Democratic primaries.

More meetings with other Democratic groups are on the schedule, Obama's aides said.

"We want to work closely with every single senator in there," said David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, after meeting with the Democratic Caucus. "We want to have a dialogue. We don't consider ourselves to be the repository of all wisdom."

Obama said he had a "terrific conversation" with the Hispanic caucus.

"We're all excited about the prospects of victory in November," he said. "We'll be unified going forward."

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., said the Hispanic group talked to Obama about the Hispanic vote and Clinton's role in the campaign.

Clinton was not on Capitol Hill because she was taking time off to be with her family, the New York senator's office said.

Mbeki flies to Zimbabwe for talks

HARARE, Zimbabwe, June 18 (UPI) -- South African President Thabo Mbeki flew to Zimbabwe Wednesday to discuss the upcoming presidential runoff with President Robert Mugabe.

Other leaders in southern Africa drafted Mbeki to work out an agreement between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, his political rival and head of the Movement for Democratic Change. But, Tsvangirai believes that Mbeki favors Mugabe, The New York Times reported.

Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the national election in March, while failing at least in the official count, to get the absolute majority needed to avoid a runoff. The runoff election is scheduled for June 27.

On Wednesday, U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said that a representative of her organization was thrown out of Zimbabwe on Tuesday. An Arbour spokesman said that the officer, who arrived in the country Sunday, had long experience in Zimbabwe.

Chinese food safety agreement announced

ANNAPOLIS, Md., June 18 (UPI) -- Strong progress is being made on food and feed safety standards for imported Chinese food, officials of that nation and the United States announced.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt signed a statement Wednesday along with Li Changjiang, of the People's Republic of China outlining steps taken by both nations in implementing a 2007 Memorandum of Agreement on food and feed safety, it was announced in a joint press release following meetings in Annapolis, Md.

"Today's progress report reflects strong and sustained cooperation by both nations to strengthen the safety of food products exported to the United States from China," Leavitt said. "I'm very pleased with our efforts and commend our Chinese counterparts for their commitment to this important work."

U.S. and Chinese officials continue working on implementation of a second Memorandum of Agreement signed in December 2007 to enhancing the safety of a variety of medical products.