CNN 2008-06-18

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Good morning from the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Reggie Aqui. Thanks for checking in. Here's a look at what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

A levee break this morning in Illinois near the swollen¹ Mississippi River has forced the closure of the Great River Bridge that links Gulf² Port to Burlington. The break has engineers keeping watch on other levees, just in case. The Army Corps³ of Engineers estimates that more than two dozen levees between Davenport, Iowa and St Louis could fail this week. Now the race is on to raise those levees with millions of sandbags. President Bush will see some of the damage himself on Thursday.

The American Red Cross is out of cash. It says it's borrowing money to pay for disaster relief for the Midwest flooding victims. Over the past two months, the Red Cross has responded to 30 disasters. Executives also say donors⁴ are giving less because of high gas prices and the slumping⁵ housing market.

In China, more than 60 people have died in some of the worst flooding in decades. The rising waters have forced more than one million people out of their homes and torrential rains have been making it extremely difficult to help those who are survivors⁶ of last month's earthquake.

This afternoon people will get a chance to say goodbye to Tim Russert. There is a public wake for the late "Meet the Press" host in Washington. A private funeral and burial will take place tomorrow. Russert died of a heart attack on Friday. An autopsy⁷ showed he had an enlarged heart and a blocked artery⁸ that ruptured⁹.

Be sure to stick with CNN.com 24/7 for news from all around the world. Of course we are gonna have your updates right here throughout the day.