Iran president urges West to follow God's path

"I do not threaten anybody, but the whole universe threatens you. The current of life in the universe opposes you, as it opposes tyranny," Ahmadinejad said.

"We oppose the fact that America and Britain intend to impose themselves on every other nation."

In letters Ahmadinejad wrote this year to Bush and to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he blamed many of the world's problems on leaders who failed to follow divine teachings.

"The time has passed for the use of force ... All of the discrimination, wars and problems have a root in such an arrogant spirit, the idea of 'Mahdaviat' opposes that school of thought," Ahmadinejad said.

Child labor abuse increases

WASHINGTON - Children displaced, often orphaned, by tsunami, earthquakes and other disasters made last year a particularly sordid one for their exploitation as cheap labor or sexual victims, the government said Wednesday.

In its annual report on child labor around the world, the Labor Department said millions of children were forced to work during 2005 in physically, psychologically and sexually ruinous situations.

The report, mandated by Congress and covering 137 countries on five continents, describes policies and practices in each country that eases the problem or makes it worse.

"In 2005, natural disasters considerably increased the risk of child labor for vulnerable children in a number of Asian, African and Latin American communities," the report said. "In all of these instances, the natural disasters spurred new actions to prevent or withdraw children from work in the worst forms of child labor."

"Worst forms of child labor" is a category that covers four conditions:

_All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery.

_Use, procurement or offering of a child for prostitution or production of pornography.

_Use, procurement or offering of a child for illicit activities, particularly the narcotics trade.

_Work likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

The report said the tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, killed up to 40,000 school children in Indonesia and orphaned or separated 2,000 from their families. A Labor Department program, being implemented by Save the Children, targets "10,530 children working or at risk of entering hazardous and exploitative labor" in the disarray left after the wave that killed more than 100,000 people in Indonesia alone, the report said.

One of the worst examples of natural disaster fostering exploited children was in Pakistan, where an earthquake last October killed more than 73,000 people, half of them children, the report said.

Tropical Storm Florence strengthens in Atlantic

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Florence slowly strengthened in the open Atlantic on Wednesday and could grow into a hurricane as it nears the British territory of Bermuda, U.S. forecasters said.

Florence is the sixth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and would become the second hurricane if its top sustained winds hit 74 mph (119 kph).

The storm was about 1,240 miles southeast of Bermuda and moving west-northwest at 9 mph (15 kph), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

The swirling mass of thunderstorms had top sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph), up slightly from Tuesday. It was slowly strengthening in the open Atlantic and could become a hurricane on Thursday, the hurricane center said.

Rains pound Tucson area, flooding streets and causing one death

TUCSON (AP) — Heavy rains pounded Tucson and eastern Pima County Thursday morning, apparently causing one death, prompting flash flood warnings, flooding numerous streets and washes and strangling traffic.
Authorities reported that the body of a man washed up along the running Santa Cruz River on the city's northwest side.

Earlier, Tucson Fire Capt. Paul McDonough said a swift water rescue search was launched after a man was reported to have fallen into a south side wash. Witnesses reported seeing the man floating downstream face down after possibly hitting his head in the water, McDonough said.

The search apparently ended with the body washing up on the northwest side.

The National Weather Service reported a record 1.14 inches of rain at the Tucson International Airport. Rain pummeled most of eastern Pima and Pinal counties, Santa Cruz County and portions of Cochise County, a spokesman said. Elsewhere, up to 2 inches of rain fell in the metropolitan area before 7 a.m.

A wildfire can be seen raging in the hills over the town of St. Ignatius, Montana late Tuesday evening Sept. 5, 2006 on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Indian Reservation in Western Montana.

Wildfire battle rages on in Montana, Washington

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Firefighters battling a wildfire that has blackened nearly 290 square miles and burned 26 homes faced a new challenge, authorities said Wednesday: bees.
The blaze that started with lightning on Aug. 22 has forced hundreds to evacuate. After being grounded by smoke for a day, firefighting helicopters returned to work Wednesday, pouring water on the fire that was 45% contained.

Bee stings among firefighters have surged to as many as 50 a day, information officer Joan Dickerson said. Some of those stung required medical attention.

"We've had a couple of our leaders taken to the hospital," she said, but added that she had no explanation for the surge in stings.

Flooding, road closures continue days after Ernesto

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Rainstorms moved through a saturated eastern North Carolina on Tuesday, swelling rivers and causing more flooding along roadways already soaked by Tropical Storm Ernesto.
The eastern half of the state was under flood advisories by Tuesday afternoon, including a flash-flood warning east of Rocky Mount after 2 inches of rain fell in an hour, the National Weather Service reported.

Farther south, expected rainfall near the Northeast Cape Fear River could cause "major flooding" in Pender County, where Ernesto dumped up to a foot of rain last Friday, said Michael Caropolo, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Wilmington.

Flood warnings were in effect for the river in Burgaw, a town about 100 miles southeast of Raleigh, where 2 inches of rain could fall overnight. Water levels had risen to 16 1/2 feet by Tuesday morning — more than 6 feet above flood stage for the river — and could rise another 6 inches by Thursday before slowly receding, according to the Weather Service.

"All that water is running off into that river," Caropolo said. "Roads are closed, people have water up to their house if not in their house."

Ernesto dumped 8 to 12 inches of rain on parts of eastern North Carolina when the storm struck Friday, and about 140 people were evacuated in Duplin and Pender counties after the Cape Fear river broke its banks, officials said. No injuries have been reported.

About 50 roadways affected by the storm were still closed or partially blocked Tuesday but only about five were major routes, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Lisa Crist Crawley said. Among them were N.C. 41, which was closed east of Trenton in Jones County and east of Wallace in Duplin County, and N.C. 53, closed in Pender County from Interstate 40 to N.C. 50.

More rain was expected throughout the day near Rocky Mount, according to the National Weather Service in Raleigh.

"That can be a dangerous situation. Vehicles can hydroplane and it can cause accidents," Weather Service meteorologist Brandon Vincent said.

Rain also fell in the western part of the state, an area spared by Ernesto. In Henderson County, a mobile home park was evacuated and roads were barricaded overnight as nearby streams overflowed. Officials reported up to 4 inches of rain.