Bangladesh Cyclone Death Toll at 2,400 BARGUNA, Bangladesh (AP) -- The death toll from Bangladesh's most devastating storm in a decade climbed to at least 2,400 on Monday and relief officials warned the figure could jump sharply as rescuers reach more isolated areas. Bangladesh Cyclone Death Toll at 2,400 BARGUNA, Bangladesh (AP) -- The death toll from Bangladesh's most devastating storm in a decade climbed to at least 2,400 on Monday and relief officials warned the figure could jump...

Originally scheduled to be closed by the end of this year, the final production of tillage and fertilizer equipment has delayed that until at least March 2008. CNH is shifting production to an underutilized plant in Canada, and of the 222 workers told they d lose their jobs, just over 100 remain, spokesman Tom Witom said. Witom said that the final production is because of market demand, while almost everyone else has heard the Saskatchewan plant is having trouble with its new workload. The...

LAKELAND . More than 600 union workers at three Mosaic co. fertilizer plants in Polk County solidly approved Friday a new three-year contract that provides for at least 3 percent annual wage increases and preserves the current pension system. Workers at Mosaic's four Polk phosphate mines and other fertilizer plants are covered under separate contracts negotiated by other unions. But the contract also removes caps on the employee contribution to health insurance coverage beginning in 2010,...

TOKYO Breaded, deep-fried or raw, whale is considered a tasty staple in some parts of Japan, no matter what the world and its animal-lovers may think. Northerners prefer the lighter flesh of the minke, while the cooking traditions of Wada, a village outside Tokyo, focus on the dark meat of the Baird's beaked whale. Akiji Ichihara, who runs Wada's Piman restaurant, stews the meat with ginger, leaves, soy sauce, sake and miso soy bean paste, or pan-fries it in oil like a steak. On the...

Nonetheless, many scholars and front-line caseworkers interviewed by The Associated Press see the abusive-boyfriend syndrome as part of a broader trend that deeply worries them. Of the 500 or so deaths caused by physical abuse, the federal statistics do not specify how many were caused by a stepparent or unmarried partner of the parent. In each case, as in many others every year, the alleged or convicted perpetrator had been the boyfriend of the child's mother , men thrust into father-like...