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.
