Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Monsoons in Bangladesh Kill More Than 100

· The heaviest monsoon rains in seven years have devastated parts of Bangladesh, triggering massive mudslides that have killed more than 100 people in the South Asian country. Hundreds more are injured or missing.

Nearly 8 1/2 inches of rain fell in three hours Monday in the seaport city of Chittagong, and lightning strikes killed 11 people in nearby districts. After a brief lull, the downpour resumed yesterday.

Monsoons are heavy winds that bring lots of rain to countries lining the Indian Ocean.

In years with severe monsoons, more than 60 percent of Bangladesh floods. The country is about the size of New York state.

· Astronauts with the shuttle Atlantis will spend an extra two days in space to fix a heat shield that peeled back during Friday's launch.

The shuttle is docked at the international space station, where the crew has installed new power-generating solar panels.

Engineers don't believe that the damage to the thermal shield, which protects the shuttle from searing heat during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, poses any threat to the crew. But they want to fix it now rather than risk further damage during re-entry.

· Grassy Key, Florida, is home to the only known wild colony of Gambian pouch rats in the United States. And state officials say that's one too many.

So they're out to poison every last rat. They've also banned them as pets, fearful of an escape.

"We certainly don't need another rat in the United States, especially one 15 1/2 inches long," said John Woolard, a federal biologist.

The furry brown rodents can weigh as much as nine pounds and grow to a catlike 30 inches long. The rats destroy crops and spread a virus called monkeypox.

After a 2003 outbreak, federal officials banned the importing and selling of African rodents, but allowed those who already had them to keep them. No one knows for sure how Florida's wild colony began -- only that they want it to end.