INTERNATIONAL
Portugal floods kill 42, some people feared buried in debrisFUNCHAL, Madeira Islands (AP) — Rescue workers in Madeira dug through heaps of mud, boulders and debris Sunday, searching for victims buried by floods and mudslides that have killed at least 42 people on the popular Portuguese island.—Obama statue returns to public view at school in JakartaJAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A statue of Obama as a boy was placed late Sunday night at the Jakarta elementary school the U.S. president once attended, after its display in a public park prompted backlash in the Indonesia capital. The re-placement of the bronze statue a week after it disappeared from public view was a low-key event officiated by the school’s principal and three local education officials.NATIONALDalai Lama doesn’t fault Obama for low-key meetingBEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The Dalai Lama says he doesn’t fault President Obama for his low-key reception in Washington because he recognizes that the president must juggle ties to the Tibetan spiritual leader with concerns about angering China.The Dalai Lama told The Associated Press he understands Obama must be practical in exercising his commitment to human rights worldwide.—Feds outline plan to nurse Great Lakes back to healthTRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Obama administration has developed a five-year blueprint for rescuing the Great Lakes, a sprawling ecosystem plagued by toxic contamination, shrinking wildlife habitat and invasive species.The plan envisions spending more than $2.2 billion for long-awaited repairs after a century of damage to the lakes, which hold 20 percent of the world’s fresh water. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the document, which Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, was releasing at a news conference Sunday in Washington.—Lawmakers to press service chiefs on reversing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers this week will press the military’s top uniformed officers for the first time on whether they think repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” would make sense or be too disruptive.The testimony from each of the service chiefs on Capitol Hill will be crucial to the debate in Congress on whether to repeal the 17-year-old law, which bans gays from serving openly in the military.President Obama says the policy unfairly punishes patriots who want to serve their country.STATE/LOCAL
Study: Global warming to bring stronger but fewer hurricanesWASHINGTON (AP) — Top researchers now agree the world is likely to get stronger but fewer hurricanes in the future because of global warming, seeming to settle a scientific debate on the subject.But they say there’s not enough evidence yet to tell whether that effect has already begun.Since just before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, dueling scientific papers have clashed about whether global warming is worsening hurricanes and will do so in the future. The new study seems to split the difference. A special World Meteorological Organization panel of 10 experts in both hurricanes and climate change — including leading scientists from both sides — came up with a consensus, which is published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.—Sen. Mary Landrieu takes heat on climate changeNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sen. Mary Landrieu is being hammered on the airwaves for opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to regulate greenhouse gases by using the Clean Air Act.Landrieu, a Democrat, has pushed a resolution to stop federal limits on what some people consider climate-changing pollution.
—Extreme cold could mean slow crawfish from harvest this season(AP) — Earlier this year, crawfish farmers expected heavy rains to bring a bountiful harvest, but that was before periods of subfreezing temperatures pushed the mud bugs back into their holes.Now producers wonder if early projections of a strong crop will pan out. And some restaurant owners are having a hard time keeping up with customers’ hunger for crawfish.