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Flooding worsens in nation’s midsection

PIEDMONT, Missouri (AP) — Flooding forced hundreds of people to flee their homes and closed scores of roads Wednesday as a huge storm system poured as much as 10 inches of rain on the nation’s midsection.

Four deaths were linked to the flooding in Missouri, and five people were killed in a highway wreck in heavy rain in Kentucky.

Searches were under way in Texas for a teenager washed down a drainage pipe and in Missouri for a man missing in a creek, and two people were missing in Arkansas after their vehicles were swept away by rushing water.

The National Weather Service posted flood and flash flood warnings from Texas to Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

About 10 inches of rain had fallen by Wednesday morning in southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau County, where street flooding marooned some residents in their homes, the State Emergency Management Agency said. The weather service said 6.7 inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Jasper, Arkansas, and 6.2 inches had fallen at Evansville, Indiana. Watch high water trap a school bus

Scott and Marilyne Peterson and their son, Scott Jr., scurried out of their home near Piedmont after seeing water rise 3 feet in five minutes. They had just enough time to grab essentials and their dog.

You didn’t have time to worry, Scott Peterson Sr. said. You just grab what you can and go and you’re glad the people are OK.

The rain in Missouri was expected to finally come to an end Wednesday as the weather system headed toward the northeast.

An estimated 300 houses and businesses were flooded in Piedmont, a town of 2,000 residents on McKenzie Creek. Dozens of people were rescued by boat.

Outside St. Louis, the Meramec River was expected to crest 10 to 15 feet above flood stage at some spots, threatening towns like Eureka and Valley Park, where residents were urged to evacuate. The Missouri River was at or near flood stage through much of central and eastern Missouri. Watch river threaten town

The James River was approaching record levels of more than 33 feet above normal at the small Ozarks town of Galena west of Branson, flooding a commercial strip and numerous homes near the town, Stone County emergency management chief Tom Martin said. The canoeing and fishing center of about 450 residents sits mainly on a hill above the river.

Flooding was widespread in Arkansas, washing out some highways and leading to evacuations of homes in parts of Baxter, Madison and Sharp counties, said Tommy Jackson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. The Highway and Transportation Department reported state roads blocked in 16 counties.

In northeast Arkansas, the Spring River was rising at a rate of 6 inches per hour and carrying debris that included entire trees.

Searchers at West Fork, Arkansas, found a truck that was washed off a bridge but the driver was missing.

The water was reportedly so high … they had to scale back the search for a time, Jackson said.

Another man was missing after his vehicle was caught by high water near Timbo, Arkansas, Stone County Sheriff Todd Hudspeth said.

Farther north, widespread flooding was reported in parts of southwest Indiana and Ohio.

We’ve got water rising everywhere, said Jeff Korb, president of the Vanderbugh County, Indiana, commissioners. We’ve got more than 70 roads under water.

Rescuers in southern Indiana plucked a man from a tree in the Ohio River after his truck was swept away. Knight Township Fire Chief Chris Wathen said the man was conscious but showing signs of hypothermia.

It’s hard for anybody to say how long he could have survived there, Wathen said. But I do think it was fair to say he was within minutes of losing his life.

Residents of South Lebanon, Ohio — a town of about 2,800 people — were urged to get out as the Little Miami River was expected to crest at 28 feet, 11 feet above flood stage and the third-highest level since measurements began in 1889, said Frank Young, emergency management director in Warren County. Watch Ohioans brace for floods

That would put half of South Lebanon under water, Young said.

Key roads were closed in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, where water 4 feet deep was reported in businesses in the suburb of Sharonville, police said. Police contacted at least nine businesses and warned them not to open Wednesday. Northeast of Cincinnati, two members of a cross-country team had to be rescued after falling into a rain-swollen creek.

The Ohio River at Cincinnati was expected to rise about 2 feet above flood stage by Friday, flooding some neighborhoods outside the city.

Emergency officials in Mesquite, Texas, searched for a 14-year-old boy apparently swept away by rushing water as he and a friend played in a creek. The friend swam to safety, authorities said.

Some travelers had to spend the night camped out at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where more than half of the 950 scheduled flights Tuesday were canceled because of more than 6 inches of rain and wind gusting to more than 100 mph.

Missouri state officials said three people died there, including one man whose car was swept 600 feet down a flooded stream. The Southeast Missourian newspaper in Cape Girardeau reported a fourth death.
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Many injured in Indian Kashmir city blast

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir (CNN) — A massive explosion has struck a highway overpass near the Indian-controlled Kashmir government’s main building, injuring 17 people, according to police.

The blast hit a highway overpass near the Civil Secretariat, the region’s seat of government, and its high court complex, senior police official M.B. Nathyeal said Wednesday.

None of the injuries were serious, the attending physician at the hospital said.

It is unclear if the explosion, which happened around 6 p.m. local time (1230 GMT), was the result of a car bomb or a pre-planted roadside bomb, Nathyeal said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which damaged part of the highway overpass and shattered the windows of nearby buildings and vehicles. E-mail to a friend

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Inzamam “disgusted” by Hair reinstatement

(CNN) — Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said he was shocked and disgusted at the reinstatement of controversial umpire Darrell Hair to the Test arena.

Inzamam was involved in a furious row with Hair at the infamous forfeited Oval Test between Pakistan and England in 2006.

Inzamam and his men were penalized five runs for ball-tampering by Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove and after refusing to take the field the Test was awarded to England.

Pakistan were later cleared of ball-tampering charges but Inzamam was given a four-match ban for misconduct, while a negative report submitted about Hair led to his ousting from the elite panel.

I am terribly shocked and disgusted at the news, Inzamam said from India, where he is playing in the rebel Indian Cricket League.

I would blame the Pakistan Cricket Board for bowing down in Hair’s case and no player will now stand against injustices at international level, Inzamam added.

Hair was at fault but he is reinstated like a hero.

News of Hair’s reinstatement was welcomed by Australian cricket authorities.

We’re pleased to see Darrell back, spokesman Peter Young said.

Cricket Australia has always had a view that he is, in a technical sense, an excellent umpire, one of the best two or three in the world.

England one-day international captain Paul Collingwood also backed the decison to bring back the 55-year-old umpire.

The times Darrell has actually umpired us I thought he has done a very good job, said Collingwood.

He’s good to talk to on the pitch, he’s very good with the players, he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Darrell does get the majority of the decision right on the pitch which is what you want.

Hair has been officiatingin one-day internationals involving non Test-playing countries, most recently Ireland against Scotland last July, and is contracted to the ICC until March 2009.
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Botswana seeks bigger cut of diamond market

GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — The world’s largest producer of diamonds wants more bang for its bling.

A company launched Tuesday will market and sell about 15 percent of Botswana’s diamonds to manufacturers who have set up cutting and polishing factories in the southern African country. Very little diamond polishing and cutting, which increases a diamond’s value by 50 percent, has been based in southern Africa.

For the citizens of Botswana it will bring increased employment and training opportunities, said President Festus Mogae, who steps down at the end of the month. It will provide government with significant revenue stream to finance further development. It will also raise our global profile.

The new Diamond Trading Company of Botswana is expected to sell $375 million in rough diamonds this year and $550 million by 2010 to 16 manufacturers.

What we are embarking on is nothing less than one of the largest transfers of skills and commercial activity to Africa ever seen, said De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer. The diamond industry’s center of gravity is shifting and tonight we see it shifting here.

All sorting and valuing of diamonds produced in Botswana by Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and Botswana’s government, will be now done at the new $83 million plant in the capital, Gaborone.

De Beer’s managing director Gareth Penny said the initiative will create about 3,000 jobs and it is estimated that the value of economic activity stemming from the rough diamonds sold will be about three percent of all Botswana’s GDP while about $6 billion worth of uncut gemstones will pass through the new building.

The company jointly owned De Beers and the Botswana government is part of a regional move to ensure mineral-rich countries benefit more from their natural resources.

A similar diamond trading company was set up last year between the Namibian government and De Beers. Last month South Africa established the State Diamond Trader, which will acquire 10 percent of locally produced diamonds for resale on the local market.

Southern Africa accounts for more than 40 percent of the world’s rough diamond output — Botswana alone has 22 percent of the market, worth about $3.5 billion a year.

Yet Botswana, a country almost the size of France or Texas with a population of about 1.8 million, has an unemployment rate of about 20 percent. Nearly a quarter of the population lives on $1 a day and about a quarter of the population is HIV positive, putting even more pressure on the economy.

Kabo Ramatludung, a 23-year-old training as a cutter in Gaborone, had been selling puppies to earn money. Diamonds offer a better future, said Ramatludung, who has a younger sister to look after, and no parents.

If he passes his six-month training period, he will be given a job.

Diamonds are so bright and attractive. I always wanted a chance to work them, Ramatludung said, the light glinting off his fake diamond earring.

Traditionally diamonds have been cut and polished in centers such as Antwerp, Belgium and Tel Aviv, Israel. But increasingly less cutting is done in Europe, with lower cost centers opening up in India and China.

With higher labor costs, southern Africa was not seen as competitive and there was initial resistance by the diamond industry to regional governments’ calls to bring more of the diamond industry to the source.

However, governments have insisted. Two years ago, when it came time for De Beers to re-negotiate its mining licenses in Botswana, one of the conditions was to help develop local processing industries.

With new technologies making processing diamonds less labor intensive, local operations are more viable now.

New York-based Martin Rapaport, whose Diamond.Net is a leading source on diamond trading and pricing, said the idea of sorting and processing in Botswana is excellent, but the question is: Can Botswana cut diamonds cost effectively?

Unable to compete with India which processes high volumes of smaller stones, Botswana will have to find its niche in the cutting and polishing of larger stones, which will not need the expertise of European cutters.

Kaushik Mehta’s company Eurostar Diamond Traders, whose clients include luxury jewelry store Tiffany’s, began cutting and polishing diamonds in Botswana a year ago. The company, which also employs about 10,000 people in India and China, has created about 500 jobs in Botswana and invested heavily in training and transferring skills.

The government wants to take advantage of God’s gift to this land, Mehta said. And we benefit by expanding our business. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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East Timor president discharged from hospital

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was discharged Tuesday from an Australian hospital five weeks after he was wounded in an assassination attempt.

Ramos-Horta said he expects to remain in Australia for a few more weeks for therapy.

The president, who was treated at two Darwin hospitals following the February 11 shooting, gave the doctors and nurses at Royal Adelaide Hospital a gift of Timorese coffee before leaving Tuesday.

It’s the best coffee in the world, said the president, looking thin and holding back tears as he expressed his gratitude. I would like to thank you all for your care and patience.

Ramos-Horta recalled bleeding heavily and being fully conscious after the shooting as he was taken to an Australian medical center in Dili. I remember every detail from the moment I was shot. … On the way to the heliport I fell off the chair a few times because there were no belts.

Hospital spokeswoman Michelle Foster said Ramos-Horta would receive further treatment from the hospital.

He needs some physiotherapy and doctors would like to keep an eye on him, she said.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been treated in Darwin since he was shot by rebel troops outside his home in East Timor’s capital, Dili. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped unharmed from an ambush on his motorcade the same day.

They were ambushed by East Timorese rebel troops whose leader, Alfredo Reinado, was shot and killed by presidential guards during the attack.

The attacks underscored East Timor’s volatility six years after it declared independence following decades of harsh rule by neighboring Indonesia and a period of U.N. administration.
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