CNN 2008-03-21

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Good morning, I am Melissa Long. Here at the CNN Center in Atlanta on this Thursday. And here are some of the headlines that are NOW IN THE NEWS.

The East Coast is now dealing¹ with severe weather that left behind heavy flooding in several states in the nation’s heartland. At least 13 people have been killed by the wicked weather. At least three people are still missing this morning.

Vice-President Dick Cheney is praising efforts to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. He arrived in Kabul today and met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The Vice-President is also expected to visit troops while he’s there. Yesterday Cheney was in Iraq on the fifth anniversary of the war.

It looks like high gas prices have motorists combining, airing, carpooling, using public transportation, all of which resulted in a 1% decrease in gas consumption during an eight-week period compared to the previous year. Now 1% may not seem like that much, but considering that it usually rises by more than 1% each year, it is significant. The popularity of hybrid² cars has also helped people to cut down on gas usage.

A European vacation just got a little more expensive on two Airlines. American and Northwest raised their fuel surcharges by $20 each way on flights to Europe. That means a flight to London on one of those carriers will now cost you $242 in fuel costs. This is according to one industry watcher.

And you are up-to-date. You can find out much more on there stories. We have continuing coverage³ of the latest news as well. Just stay with our website CNN.com, tune⁴ in to CNN television or if you happen to be on the go, don’t forget about CNN.com updates for your cell phone.