AFGHANISTAN FLOODS

In Story 1 we see Storms destroying Worldwide (World flooding) and in story 2 we see the Israeli government is on fast track to Land for security as on Thursday their new Government is sworn in.

Nine killed in northern Afghanistan flash floods 1 hour, 49 minutes ago

KABUL (AFP) - Flash floods caused by torrential rains and melting snow have killed at least nine people and destroyed dozens of houses in northern Afghanistan. Seven people died when their village in the northern province of Faryab was washed away on Sunday, Mohyammad Khairkhwa, Afghan Red Crescent chief for northern Afghanistan, told AFP.

Two other Afghans were killed on Saturday as a result of floods caused by melting snow in Baghlan, another northern province in the Hindu Kush mountains. The police chief of Faryab, Khalilullah Ziaei, said he had sent a team to the region to assess the situation.

Israel's new government prepares to take office By Megan Goldin 32 minutes ago

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel's new government will take office on Thursday after Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formed a coalition to carry out his plan to redraw Jewish settlement lines in the occupied West Bank. The Knesset will convene on Thursday to vote on the new government's guidelines and to swear it in," a parliamentary official said as coalition deals reached by Olmert's Kadima party and the policy points were filed in the legislature.

Olmert's governing coalition will control at least 67 seats in the 120-seat chamber, a majority narrower than he had sought in several weeks of negotiations with political parties. He was forced to seek partnerships, signing agreements with centre-left Labor, the ultra-Orthodox Shas faction and a pensioners' party, after centrist Kadima led the pack in the March 28 election but fell short of a parliamentary majority.

Olmert has pledged, in the absence of peace talks with the Palestinians, to dismantle isolated West Bank settlements, bolster main settlement blocs and set Israel's borders by 2010. Palestinians have said such moves, described by Olmert as "convergence," would annex land they want for a state of their own in the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip, which Israel quit last year.

Handing out cabinet portfolios to Kadima's senior members, Olmert tapped 82-year-old Shimon Peres as one of his deputies and named him minister of regional development. Peres will be the government's elder statesman, to be sent on special missions to the Arab world and European nations," said a senior official in Kadima, which Peres joined after losing a Labor Party leadership election.

RISING STAR

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, widely seen as a rising star in Israeli politics and a former operative of Israel's Mossad spy agency, will remain at her post. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz did not fare as well. He will serve as one of Olmert's deputies and as transport minister but hand over the defense portfolio to Labor leader Amir Peretz, a former trade union chief.

Palestinians regard Mofaz as one of Israel's most hardline leaders, citing tough measures he has overseen -- including assassination of top militants and tight travel restrictions -- to battle anti-Israeli violence. Olmert became interim prime minister after Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke and fell into a coma in January. A former Jerusalem mayor, Olmert has said he will wait, but not for long, for the militant Hamas group, now heading the Palestinian government, to show if it will moderate its position calling for Israel's destruction and become a peace partner.

Peace prospects appear dim as Hamas has defied Israeli and international demands to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept previous interim peace deals. In another key cabinet appointment, Abraham Hirschson, a close Olmert ally and currently minister of tourism and
communications, was named finance minister. He is expected to continue pursuing budget discipline and free-market policies. Labor will hold seven cabinet posts, the pensioners' party two, and Shas, three.