Journalist who was jailed by Iran returns to U.S.

Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi returned to the United States on Friday after enduring a 100-day ordeal in an Iranian jail. Landing at Washington’s Dulles International Airport on a flight from Vienna, Austria, a smiling Saberi said she was feeling “very good.” Saberi thanked those who campaigned for her release, including her supporters in Iran. “The one thing that kept me going when I was in prison was singing the national anthem to myself,” said Saberi, flanked by her parents

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Obama: We’re watching rising rivers

President Obama said his administration plans to keep a close watch on and help fight the rising waters in the Dakotas and Minnesota. “Even as we face an economic crisis which demands our constant focus, forces of nature can also intervene in ways that create other crises to which we must respond and respond urgently,” Obama said Saturday in his weekly webcast. “For the people of North and South Dakota and Minnesota who live along rivers spilling over their banks, this is one such moment.” Troops and aircraft were being sent overnight to North Dakota to assist state and local officials ahead of record flooding, as residents along the Red River nervously eyed shored-up dikes and levees.

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Former Turkish generals accused of plot

Two retired Turkish generals are accused of masterminding a plot to overthrow the government, according to an indictment officially released Wednesday that charged more than 50 others as their accomplices. The last flood even near that level was in 1997, when the river crested at 39.6 feet. The record for the Red River in Fargo, the state’s most populous city, was set in 1897 at 40.1 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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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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Should hunters switch to ‘green’ bullets?

Three years ago, Phillip Loughlin made a choice he knew would brand him as an outsider with many of his fellow hunters: He decided to shoot “green” bullets. “It made sense,” Loughlin said of his switch to more environmentally friendly ammo, which doesn’t contain lead. “I believe that we need to do a little bit to take care of the rest of the habitat and the environment — not just what we want to shoot out of it.” Lead, a toxic metal that can lower the IQs of children, is the essential element in most ammunition on the market today

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