North Dakota gets ready for potential flood disaster

More rainfall combined with melting snow has increased the risk of severe flooding in North Dakota, with the city of Fargo bracing for what could be a local disaster of historic proportions. City officials estimated Tuesday that as many as 10,000 volunteers have come forward since Sunday to aid in a sandbagging effort that’s taken over North Dakota State University’s central arena, the Fargodome, and to help build levees along the now closely watched Red River. “We’ve had almost too many volunteers at most of our sites,” said Fargo Deputy Mayor Tim Mahoney

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Man survives plunge over Niagara Falls

A man went over Niagara Falls and survived Wednesday afternoon, one of the few people to ever survive the plunge unprotected, authorities said. Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Chief Lee Smith said the man was seen entering the icy water just above Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side, and apparently jumped in about 2:15 p.m.

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Behind the Troop Surge at the U.S.-Mexico Border

The ebbing stretch of Rio Grande that divides the Texas city of El Paso from the Mexican city of Juarez may soon become one of the world’s most militarized borders. This week, as Texas Governor Rick Perry went to El Paso to announce that has asked Washington for 1,000 more “boots on the ground” to enforce the border, Mexico’s government ordered 5,000 extra soldiers to Juarez. The armies massing on both sides of the border are marching against a common foe — drug cartels — and the coming months will be a crucial test as to whether they can effectively work together to fight it

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‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has six Oscars

"Slumdog Millionaire," the little film about a poverty-raised teaboy who goes on a game show as a way to find his lost love, leads all films at the Oscars with six Oscars at the 81st annual Academy Awards. “Millionaire” has won Oscars for adapted screenplay (Simon Beaufoy), score (A.R. Rahman), song (“Jai Ho,” co-written by Rahman), cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle), sound mixing and film editing

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Girl, 5, likely taken from Florida home, police say

A missing 5-year-old Florida girl was most likely abducted from her home in rural Florida, police said Wednesday. Haleigh Cummings has been missing since 3 a.m. Tuesday, when her father’s girlfriend called 911 to say the child had vanished from her Putnam County home.

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